Tomorrow (‘Change’ part 2)

Last time, we started to think about how we ought to live today in light of tomorrow, and we drew certain important points from the Epistle of James, the brother of our Lord Jesus.

Today, we will take it a step further.

And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.’

Numbers 11:18 (ESV)

The Lord, instructing the people through Moses, laid a point of emphasis in the first part of the verse: “Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow…”

I’ve always found this phrasing fascinating since I started to ponder on it.

At first glance, it doesn’t appear serious. But something that seems to stand out is this: The one who failed to consecrate himself for tomorrow would not eat meat, even though meat was going to be available.

Therefore, the determinant of eating meat wasn’t simply the availability of it, but the preparation for it.

This is the matter with tomorrow. Those who maximize tomorrow are those who prepare for it today. It seems as though there is usually no time to prepare and maximize tomorrow, inside it (I hope you get it).

Recently, I was thinking about how a lot of young people live today, and I started to suspect that a lot of young people don’t think they have a future  — or, at least, one worth preparing for.

I see the pictures they post on social media, the things they say and type (things that are quite shameful and quite damning), the decisions that they make today, and I feel as though if they expect to have a better future, they would act differently.

I know that there are a lot of confounding factors that contribute to this, but too often, in the cold light of day, it is because of an inability to percieve tomorrow clearly.

In that day the Lord God of hosts   called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and wearing sackcloth; and behold, joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,  eating flesh and drinking wine.   “Let us eat and drink,  for tomorrow we die.”

Isaiah 22:12-13 (ESV)

Notice here was what the Lord was calling for and see what they did instead. In the subsequent verses of the chapter, you’ll see what the judgment of God was against such disobedience and misplacement of priorities.

You’ll also see the reason they gave for their choice of eating and drinking: “for tomorrow we die”. We can connote that it was because they didn’t have any expectations or intentions for tomorrow that eating and drinking became the defacto course of action.

The reality is that it’s difficult to maximize a future you didn’t prepare for.

One of the important preparations for tomorrow is consecration today.

Consecration,  a basic level, is separation. There are things you will not join yourself to, there are people you won’t company with, there are places you wouldn’t be found.

Sometimes, it may not be because there is anything inherently wrong with them, it may just be that,bas far as your future is concerned, they are incompatible.

Separation from the encumbrances, from the mixed multitude, from the naysayers, from the bandwagon, from the weights, from the besetting sins. Separation unto the Lord, His call, His Purpose, His path, His provisions.

So the Lord said, Consecrate yourself for tomorrow.

Dearly beloved, consecrate yourself for tomorrow. There is such a thing as tomorrow, you have today to prepare for tomorrow.

Obey.

Make today count.