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Ministry in the Present Tense

Unshackle yourself from the tyranny of the past and future.
Ministry in the Present Tense

I’ve reached that stage in my ministry when it feels like I have more time behind me than in front. I know this isn’t really true. I realize I am wending my way toward eternity where I will serve God perfectly and without distraction. But for now I seem to be running out of road, and I wonder why I was in such a hurry to get here in the first place. Like most leaders, my interests and aspirations have skewed toward the future. I have prayed for it, planned for it, and expended most of my ministry effort trying to put it into effect.

In the process, I have learned an important lesson: the future never really arrives. The days marked on the calendar eventually arrive. The plans I make come to fruition (or else fail). Yet as far as my experience goes, I remain firmly rooted in the present. What is the future but the now we have not yet come to know? Likewise the past is merely a succession of presents we have left behind.

“I have been scattered in times I do not understand,” ...

March
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