Be Still: 30 Devotions for the Hopeful HeartExemplo

Don’t Borrow from Tomorrow

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. MATTHEW 6:34 NIV

There it goes again. We keep reaching for it. Our hands are full of today’s responsibilities and yet we strain to try to reach into the jar of tomorrow. “What’s in there?” we wonder. “Can I handle it?” we ponder.

We presume, do our best to predict, and conclude accordingly. We begin toiling, rocking back and forth, trying to make a plan, gathering treasures, and hoping they’ll be enough—all based on our best guess at what the future could possibly hold.

When the Lord told us that His grace is sufficient for our weakness, He meant within the confines of one day. He instructed us to remain in the present because our ability to remain hopeful when we begin assuming and assessing is minuscule. We have no concept of how God will connect the dots or how life will transform by the time tomorrow actually arrives.

When we dig into tomorrow, we borrow grief and concern that was never meant for us to carry. The forecast for a day we have never experienced will always seem more daunting—“How will I have the money/time/energy to do that?” “Will I feel this alone?” “Has God forgotten about this?” All these questions plague our minds and invite us to snowball into the roller coaster of tomorrow.

This is the reality—grief will knock. So will disappointment. Rejection will have its day. Hardship will be a guest at our table. But when they show up, we will be ready! The Lord will have prepared us for such a time, and He will sustain us with each passing day. Reaching into tomorrow’s jar is the decision not to embrace what is being offered to us today.

As we discipline ourselves in staying in today’s time frame, we will realize how lightly we travel. It no longer requires a million bags and a mapped-out plan to experience victory; it simply requires trusting Jesus for today and not borrowing from tomorrow.

Dear Jesus, thank You for reminding us to remember the gift of today. We know nothing of tomorrow, but You do, and You will go before us. Help us to travel lightly. Tomorrow will come, and when it does, You will have prepared us to conquer it. In Jesus’s name, amen.