Never As Nervous

Instagram: bobgoff

God is never as nervous about our future, or as concerned about our past, as we are.

-- Bob Goff

I'm not sure how we could verify such an assertion, but it does ring true somehow. And, if it is, it would seem to change a lot of the dynamic of what we tend to focus on. In other words, it does seem like we spend an inordinate amount of time anticipating the future or regretting the past, at the expense of the present. And, if that is largely a waste of time (if not energy), then such understanding could provide much more space for the present…to more fully occupy it.

So much of such things seem to be viewed through a lens of something related to God. However we ended up with that particular overlay, we do seem to use it to justify the focus of our attention. But, as the observation points out, what if God is much less concerned with those two dimensions and much more interested in what we’re thinking and doing now.  The past, by in large, is forgiven. The future, more than anything else, is largely more unknowable than we are comfortable with. 

Besides a few obscure and ambiguous passages in the Bible, for example, the locus of the Bible’s description (and more limited prescription) is on the current moment — how we are treating our neighbors, our enemies, and the world at large…right now.

So, if in fact, God is not as interested in the past and future, as he is in the present, then maybe we can free ourselves of such preoccupations and more joyously be about the even sometimes difficult work of being constructive (light, salt, etc.) in our day today.