Today

Our lesson for today from Rob Bell was entitled "Today." He begins by relating the story of Mary Magdeline. She was an amazing woman. She had been possessed by seven demons, and Jesus delivered her. From that time on she was a faithful follower of Christ. She embodies the story Jesus tells in Luke 7 about the men who had debts. The one who had been forgiven much, loved much. No wonder she was there all the way--through the trial, through the cross and at the tomb on Sunday morning.

When she saw Jesus in the garden she started to hug Jesus, and he tells her, "Don't." She had assumed that now that He was alive everything would go just like it had before His death. But He is telling her, "Things have changed." Things always change. Rob says, "Life isn't static. It ebbs and flows."

And we find we aren't who we were. Some people realize this with great regret because they are always looking at the past with longing. They wish they still were who they used to be. But to be happy about who we have become is a great gift. It is God's plan for us to grow in all areas of our lives, and to become more like Christ. I am so glad I can see progress in my life, and I revel in the fact that God is not finished with me yet. "He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it."

Many people are tempted to live in the past because of guilt they have and choices they continue to feel bad about. The disciples could have wallowed in the past. Nothing had turned out as they had expected. Now Jesus was back and some of them weren't at all sure it was even Him. Some returned to fishing. Peter could have totally turned away after his denial of Christ. But they all eventually accepted Christ's forgiveness and obeyed His command to be His witnesses to all the earth. They moved on.

Some parents have a hard time moving on. They continue to hang on to their children long past the time when their children have become adults. They hold their children back in their desire to see them remain close by. Rob says the thought process that keeps us from this trap is to be so fully present in the moments you have with your children as they grow so that you don't miss a thing.

Isaiah 43:18-19: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

God wants us to realize that things will always be changing. We have to trust Him and His promise to be with us and to bring to pass miraculous things in our lives that are beyond our imaginations.