When I Was Young – Invincible

That’s What I Always Thought! I was, and we were, invincible.

Play forever, taking chances where you never thought about the consequences of your actions. Work hard and live with every penny that comes in, you know, there’s always tomorrow to save and squirrel away for the future.

Do what you want now, because there is always a tomorrow.

It has nothing to do with procrastination, that’s simply putting things off. It had everything to do with not thinking about what the future holds, nor what it looks like.

Somewhere along the way, I listened to a voice that made this statement often enough that it started sinking in.

“If you will live like no one else today,
later you can live and give like no one else.”
~Dave Ramsey

Live now the way you want to be able to live tomorrow when other’s are struggling. What’s this? I have the energy today, so make the best use of the resources today so that the future will have stored up for the day when my resources have become slack.

This caught my attention and I started thinking about tomorrow. Along the way, I started changing my mind about how to live today and thought more about preparing for that nebulous tomorrow. Some invest wildly hoping for a profitable future. Me, I just plod along in the comfort of regular savings and life choices…

Back in the early 80’s I learned something in a management class… The 5 P’s of Success. My instructor would use his hand and indicate each point with the tip of his finger, rolling from his little finger to his thumb.

Prior Proper Planning Prevents Problems

The mantra that could be said of every step of life. Plan for a career and you will have fewer problems, or at least an idea how to address the problems. Plan for retirement, and you will have resources to live comfortably.

Why do we struggle with planning, thinking it through, preparing a pathway of action that gives a better chance of success? It takes perseverance of thought, intestinal fortitude, and continual focus on the future.

However, Jesus tells us that there is a priority of focus. God first, then other things.

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
(Matthew 6:31-34 NKJV)

His Kingdom. He does not say to ignore the future, only live now within His Kingdom. Now. His Kingdom has a pathway of living that includes planning for tomorrow. When we put our needs before God’s kingdom, then how can we say we are part of the His Kingdom?

“Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with a curse, For you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the LORD of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
(Malachi 3:8-10 NKJV)

I’ve heard some say that there is no tithe today, or, it is only a suggestion. Did you know that Jesus taught more about finances than probably any other single subject? If it was important to him, do you think that it is not important today?

Have we not watched others living life to their view of fullness, and leave God out of their equation.

No thought about the kingdom. No offering. No tithe.
No time. No harvest. No preparation.
No thought of supporting God’s work or ministries.
Some will even point to all of their expenses or busy life as to why they cannot support.

I’ve watched people die and fall from the spiritual vine because they did not support… in anything! Their attendance was a sparse as their financial commitment, and slowly their families fall apart! They were not planning to live today in such a way that their future was secure! They lost their focus is not clear… Even a farmer understands that a portion of the seed that can be eaten should be set aside to provide for planting so there will be a future harvest, so should we set aside the portion due to God for our future. Even the ant.

Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest.
(Proverbs 6:6-8 NKJV)

Not everything is supposed to be spent upon present life. This takes planning on your part to think about the future… Praying for you that you will put God first… That’s rightful planning!