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Inventing the Future
Genesis 15:5-6 '[God] took [Abram] outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars-- if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.' (NIV)
 People who invent the future are usually way out of step with the practice and thinking of their present. They are stargazers, like Abraham. They are weather-watchers, like Noah. They are wall-readers, like Daniel; dream-artists, like Joseph; cloud-followers, like Moses; giant-reducers like David. They are Messiah-seers like Peter; Gentile-lovers like Paul and people-restorers like Barnabus. People who would invent the future are crowd-feeding, storm-stilling, demon-evicting, water-walking, cross-bearing, grave-busters like Jesus! Each one of these people -- and most of all the last one -- paid a price in the present to shape the future. Reinventing the future is a lonely business. The present always exacts a heavy toll on those who would shape the future. John Wesley rode 4000 miles per year on back of a horse, preaching to people who were largely forgotten by the church. When he died, he left behind only four silver-plated tablespoons, -- and the Methodist movement! He saved England from revolution. Yet, he often felt alone in his quest. William Wilberforce stood for more than a generation, declaring against the odds that practice of slavery throughout the British Isles must cease. He set in motion a chain of events that eventually led to the overthrow of slavery in the Americas as well. Yet, he often felt alone in his quest. If you want to have real influence, you will live not just for the present but for the future. And you will often march out of step those who live simply for the 'now'.
Prayer: 'Lord Jesus, help me to live as you did: focused not just on what is happening right now, but on the future and what I can do to change it now. I know that this will sometimes lead me feeling a little alone, but I know that you are with me.'
© 2003-2004 Mal Fletcher
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Your social comment gives me great insight into things that don't make a lot of sense to me...
Peter, Australia
Mal, love EDGES and loved hearing you speak at Hillsong London, it was awesome.
Zac, UK
I'd like to say how good it is that your EDGES programs can be accessed via the Internet. I think you explain the Christian perspective excellently.
UK
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