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Time as an Investment
St. Porphyrios said, there is no such thing as the old and the new year, simply one more year has passed. Time, therefore, is something we can only experience in the present moment, in the now. When we dwell on the past or worry about the future, we cease to truly live, having surrendered our minds to places and times that do not exist. Yet, we spend so much time thinking about the past and the future. Aside from learning from our past and spending a little time planning for the future, there is nothing to be truly gained spending so much time pondering the past or thinking at what’s ahead. There is, however, much to lose if we do this.
Dwelling on the past accompanied by thoughts of guilt or regret or worrying about the future and all the “what ifs”, are often accompanied by anxious or fearful thoughts. Tempting us to think backwards or forwards in time are one of the devils trademarks since he knows that a person can only be in the presence of Christ in the present moment. He floods our minds with thoughts about the past and the future to simply keep us from having a lived experience with God.
Fr. Zacharias mentioned in one of his books, “we all know that the enemy fights against us by reminding us about the past, tormenting us with guilt about the sins we have committed, or by filling our life with anxiety and doubts about the future. If we dwell on the past with fear and guilt, we find in it neither love nor God. It is just as futile to dwell on the future, for the future is not ours. With doubts and uncertainty, we are divided, and the man who is divided is unstable in all his ways, as the apostle says.” (Cf. James 1:8)
So what can we do about these temptations? Fr. Zacharias says, “we cleanse the past with thanksgiving for all that He has done for us and we cleanse it with the prayer of repentance. And ‘forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, (Cf. Phil. 3:13)’ not with anxiety and doubts, but with firm expectation that, on that great and notable day of His coming, that the Lord will bring to perfection which He began in us (See Phil. 1:6).
In order that his spiritual children not feel so overwhelmed, as so many are apt to feel, the apostle Paul teaches them to refer both the past and the future, that is everything, to Christ, who will bring to completion what he has begun, emphasizing that God is always at work in us. When we become a new creation in Christ, no matter what the narrative of our past is, we are able to give thanks to God for granting us a new beginning and having cleansed our past through repentance. We become at the same time both unshackled form our past and emboldened to live each new day in the moment.
Giving thanks to God each day for all that He has done for us frees us from the past as we are able to see that God has always been with us, is with us, and will always be with us until the end of our time on earth and for all eternity. Therefore, forgetting what lies behind through thanksgiving and repentance enables us to reach forward without anxiety or doubt as we place all our hope and trust in God who does not disappoint us. Giving Him our whole heart and entrusting our whole life to Christ our God, there is no longer room for fear to dwell in our hearts as it has now become consumed with our most Beloved.
Having come to this point in his own life, St. Paul said, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."(Phil. 3: 13-14) He then attempts to arouse all who slumber in past recollection and future dreams saying:
“Awake, you sleeper, arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Watch carefully how you live, not as unwise but as wise people, making good use (the most) of your time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:14-16) To make the most of the time we’ve been given is to “set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2) for the things of the earth tether us to the earth while the things from above elevate our hearts and minds to heavenly things.
In this life, says Fr. Zacharias, “the past is a burden for us because we all remember our failures, our mistakes, our sins, our negligence; and we all think, ‘If only I had not done that or the other.’ Whereas the future is our enemy because it is not ours; we may not even have a future. We cannot control it; it is in the hands of God. The only thing that is real and redeems is the present. Therefore, we must ‘perfect holiness in the fear of God’ (Cf. 2 Cor. 7:1) now, at this moment. The enemy continually uses the past and the future in order to displace our life in an imaginary hope, distracting us from living the true life which can bring salvation. The enemy tries to fight against us and distract us from doing the work of the present either by transferring our life in the past, by drowning us in guilt and remorse about sins we have committed, or by transferring our life into the future through the imagination, or by postponing repentance which should be the work of the present time. However, ‘now is the day of salvation.’ (2 Cor. 6:2) For us there is only one time, and if we live it properly, we redeem the past and we receive hope for the future. Christ is ‘the hope of glory’ (Col. 1:27), and if now we are united with Christ, all our sins have been forgiven, we are free from the past, and we have the hope of glory for the future.”
Time is not something to “spend,” it is something we are to invest it as good stewards. Before the judgment seat of Christ we will all be asked, “What did you do with all that I gave you?” Be assured, this question has as much to do with the time we were given as it does our deeds. As a dear friend gently reminded me, “You’ve got one shot at this, better aim well!”
With love in Christ,
Fr. Timothy
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