The third question we can ask is, “Where will this idea take me?”
We have a student at Perkins who suffered terribly from Cerebral Palsy as a child, and CP confined him to a wheelchair. He has spent all of his life there and at the age of 28, he has already had both hips replaced to deal with the effects of long-time confinement to the chair.
A member of his church came up to James not long ago, and declared, “James, I am praying for you and God is going to get you out of this chair.” Fortunately, James had maturity to thank him for the care implicit in his statement, but then rightly told the man, “If getting me out of this chair is all that God has in store for me, then I’m ready to die now.” James wanted much more from God than simply to walk.
Where will an idea take us? The most important issue for James’ friend is that he find healing. James could focus there. He could wait for healing, plan for healing, long for healing, wait to live until he is healed. One reading of how prayer works and about what is important would focus there.
James had the maturity to say, effectively, that’s not where I should live. God has other things in mind. Other things matter more. Whatever my physical state might be, God loves me, wants a relationship with me, believes I am worthy, and valuable.
The one idea could take us into a world where we never live the day given to us. James’ approach celebrates the life he has.
It’s important to ask where an idea will take us.
Live each moment of every day to the fullest and take no thought of tomorrow. This particular expression of life should not prevent us from having faith for things that we want to happen but may only come to fruition in the future. “Today” and “Tomorrow” can be embraced simultaneously.