What happens when we are here and now, for God?
The second thing that happens when you are present to God is that your perspective changes.
The world of woulda-coulda-shoulda is a series of lies: The lie that we can control life’s outcome. The lie that all there is tomorrow. The lie that yesterday will never go away and we can’t be forgiven. When you believe those lies you live in the past or the future, but you never live in the present and you never find grace.
The devil will tell you anything to keep you from being present to God, because in the present you will learn that God loves you better than you love yourself. In the present you will learn that grace and forgiveness erases the past and rewrites the future. An alcoholic finds forgiveness for the past, gives himself to God, climbs out of the bottle that controls his life, and lives to be there for his family. A mother surrenders her shame, finds God’s forgiveness for her own past, and avoids projecting that shame on her daughter. A father finds a way to forgive his father for the past and frees his children from yet another cycle of violence because he discovers that he doesn’t need to punish his sons for the anger he feels about the way he was raised. Shed your fears about the future, trust God, and you give your children a world view marked by abundance and generosity, instead of fear and grasping.
Life isn’t always simple. The average black and white photo is filled with shades of gray that don’t catch our eye. But it’s the contrasts that make the images standout. When we give ourselves to God a handful of things change and a different picture emerges — a picture marked by hope.
Perfect love casts out all fear. Only Jesus is perfect love. Either fear, shame, hate, etc. seem to have foundation in fear. Mostly people are bound by what others may think of them/me. When we get our focus on the views of others and what they are thinking then we are bound up in fear. But when we set Him before us there is such glorious freedom. People are going to think whatever they think – let them. The only One that matters is Jesus – right now, in our past, and in our future. And He loves us! Why should we delay His deliverance from our bondages?