The Future Does Not Exist
It’s Literally Now or Never
The first time I read the expression “the everlasting now” in a theological text, my worldview radically shifted. Suddenly I understood the significance of living in the moment.
Think about it. The past no longer “exists” — just memories. The future does not exist except as a theoretical construct that prompts us to make plans. The belief that only the present exists is a philosophical position known as “presentism.” It makes perfect sense.
One of my friends observed how strange it is we tear off pieces of time and give them names.
Our life experience leads us to assume “tomorrow” is on its way, and we had better prepare for that test or doctor’s appointment. Nevertheless, as concrete as those events seem to be, they are only possibilities.
Tennessee Williams framed this truth in a thought-provoking way. In The Glass Menagerie, the consummate nagging mother, Amanda Wingfield, says to her son, “You are the only young man that I know who ignores the fact that the future becomes the present, the present the past, and the past turns into everlasting regret if you don’t plan for it.”
The humor in that statement stems from what only appears to be a paradox: (1) time moves us along on a conveyor belt, and (2) time is the present in which we are stuck. The truth is we live only in the present ; it only seems like we have the past and future within our grasp.
All we have is right now. We can only be in one place at a time, and we can only live now. This reality reminds me of the maps at shopping malls with an arrow pointing to a dot with the caption “You are here.”
Life is easier when we keep our focus on the present. If we are firmly grounded in the here and now, we become less anxious.
What we do now is what matters.
Jesus modeled “mindfulness” a few centuries before it became popular. He never hurried. He acted rather than reacted.
We, on the other hand, have a tendency to rush around, fearing we don’t have enough time. Living that way, being driven by time, is “time experienced as chronos,” notes Henri J. M. Nouwen in Clowning in Rome: Reflections on Solitude, Celibacy, Prayer, and Contemplation. “Life is nothing more than a chronology, a randomly collected series of incidents and accidents over which we have no control.”
Nouwen explains the alternative is “time lived as kairos. Kairos means the opportunity. It is the right time, the real moment, the chance of our life.” He explores how marvelous life can be when we approach each task and encounter as an opportunity instead of a chore.
Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
In other words, Jesus invites us to join the kingdom of God now, not in the future.
Jesus promises eternal life to his followers because God is not constrained by time or space. God created both and is therefore outside or beyond the dimensions of time and space.
When you put your trust in your loving Creator and accept the invitation to follow Jesus, you can relax and enjoy the present. Difficulties no longer seem insurmountable, and suffering becomes a little easier to bear.
Christians are able to live fully in the present confident that God is in control of everything.
After all, our Heavenly Father holds the entire universe in the palm of His Hand.
