There are many ways that tomorrow comes up in a conversation. My husband often says jokingly “why do today what you can do tomorrow.” A friend I text every night asks, “what are you doing tomorrow?” Most people have tomorrow planned out, or it is planned for them by an employer, duty to family, or event they have committed to. So, what about your tomorrow?
In Matthew 6:34, Jesus is in the middle of His Sermon On the Mount, He comes to the end of chapter 6 and tells those there not to worry about tomorrow. He had just finished teaching them about the care our Father has for all His creation. How he takes care of the birds, and the lilies of the field. How God made provision for them in the planning, such as the seeds of plants and the worms in the earth are perfect for the birds. Jesus reminds the crowd, the crown jewel of His creation, the only part of creation made in His image, the only creatures that will live eternally, that the Master will certainly take care of them. He ends with verse 34, teaching them not to be anxious about tomorrow. He wants our complete trust to be in Him.
Matthew 6:34 “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
We need to believe and cling to His promises. In Psalm 37:4, He will take care of tomorrow if we delight ourselves in Him. When we seek our happiness in Him our desires will be pleasing to Him. When a child loves His Father, he wants to please him. This in turn causes the father to want to make the child happy. Our today’s and our tomorrow’s will be satisfying to us because our desires are according to His will.
Psalm 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
Our chief desire for today and tomorrow should be to please Him. In James 4:13-15, we are taught to hold tomorrow loosely. So much of the time we live in the realm of disappointment because we plan tomorrow without seeking God’s will for it. God has other plans and when it isn’t what we had in mind, we get discouraged instead of excited to see what God is doing. It’s ok to plan, to do otherwise is a bit irresponsible, but we must seek God in the planning and be ok with the changes he sends our way.
James 4:13-15 “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeared for a little time, and then vanished away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.”
While we should not be anxious about tomorrow, or approach it without seeking God’s will for it, there is a tomorrow that we must plan in advance. That tomorrow will not come on this earth. That is the tomorrow when we stand before Jesus. No one will bypass, sleep through, or ignore that tomorrow. When we die, we will stand before Him and unless we plan for that day by repentance and accepting Him by faith as our Lord and Savior, we will spend eternity in Hell. That tomorrow will be for those who have rejected Him. However, for the Christian, it will be a time of judgment that determines our rewards. This will be determined by our faithfulness to God and what we have done for Him and His glory. Romans 14:10-12 speaks of that day, the tomorrow when every knee will bow before Him and confess to God. If we have planned for that tomorrow according to God’s word, it will be the best day of our lives. If we have not planned according to God’s word it will be a horrifying tomorrow that will never end.
Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
Romans 14:10-12 “But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at naught thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So, then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God.”
So, what about tomorrow? If you have not planned for that tomorrow now is the time. None of us know what it may bring, but we can place our faith in the one who holds tomorrow. If you have placed your faith in Jesus, live each day as if it were your last, and look for tomorrow with great anticipation.
