Facing an unknown future with joyous faith
“I’m young, pretty, and friendly—all very good, positive qualities that you have too.” This is how Sister Inah Canabarro, the world’s oldest living person at nearly 117, greets visitors to her retirement home in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.
In a video shot, the smiling Canabarro can be seen cracking jokes, sharing miniature paintings she made of wildflowers, and reciting the Hail Mary prayer. The nun is a fan of the local soccer club, which celebrates her birthday every year by decorating her room with gifts in the team’s colors.
The secret to her longevity? Her faith, she says.
Wildfires threaten thousands in California
We can all use such faith in challenging times like these.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency yesterday as wildfires forced the evacuation of thirty thousand people in the Los Angeles area. A polar vortex has prompted school closures and caused power outages and flight cancellations across the US. Dozens of hostages in Gaza are enduring another winter as their families plead for their release.
Despite all our scientific advances and technological prowess, anticipating the future is as challenging as ever. Consider these predictions made by “experts” at the beginning of 2024:
Famed management consultant Peter Drucker noted, “Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window.”
Since the future is inherently unknowable, we should obviously turn to the One whose omniscience is unbounded by time (Psalm 90:4), seeking his “plans to prosper you” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV) as we follow his “perfect” will (Romans 12:2).
What keeps us from seeking and following his will for our lives?
How can we experience his best every day of this new year?
Watching the NFL on Netflix
My wife and I watched the 1954 movie White Christmas again this year on Christmas evening. In one scene, a popular TV show is about to begin, so a group gathers on chairs around a console television to watch. The image struck me because I remember doing exactly the same thing with my parents as a child. We had three channels available through the “rabbit ears” antenna that sprouted from the back of the massive wooden box sitting on the floor.
That was then; this is now.
Earlier in the day, we joined fans from over two hundred countries who watched two NFL games on television via Netflix. Across the year, viewers streamed over one billion hours of content daily to their televisions via YouTube. Not to mention all the content getting downloaded on laptops, tablets, and mobile phones. Meanwhile, cable television is declining as fast as streaming services are accelerating.
Marshall McLuhan famously asserted, “The medium is the message.” He was right: When we can watch nearly anything we choose whenever we choose on nearly any technology we choose, it seems that the outside world is subject to our command. And when content producers vie for our attention, we become the customer in control of the encounter.
But this is just what they want us to think. The more they appeal to our “will to power,” the more likely we are to buy their products, watch their shows, or do whatever else they want us to do.
“The most reliable way to predict the future”
Abraham Lincoln claimed, “The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it.” However, since only a timeless being is able to see and create the future, our wisest decision is to trust him rather than ourselves.
But the more prosperous we become, the more tempted by self-reliance we are.
In Revelation 3, Jesus states, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (v. 20). This verse is often used for evangelistic purposes, but it is actually directed to the prosperous church at Laodicea (v. 17). If their self-reliance could keep them from experiencing the presence of Jesus, the same can happen to us.
By contrast, the Magi who saw the star at Jesus’ birth journeyed hundreds of miles to honor him as their king (Matthew 2:1–2). They were obviously prosperous, judging by their gifts for the Christ, yet “they fell down and worshiped him” (v. 11).
We are wise to call them “wise men.” And even wiser to emulate them.
“Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace”
To be people who reject self-reliance for God-dependence, let’s take three steps today.
- Spend significant time with our Lord. The more we are with him, the more we become like him. Louie Giglio was right: “Humility is not a character trait to develop, it’s the natural by-product of being with Jesus.”
- Focus on our Lord and our neighbor, seeking practical ways to serve both. C. S. Lewis noted, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”
- Remember that we are who and what we are by God’s grace. Charles Spurgeon advised us, “Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.”
St. Augustine asked: “What greater grace could God have made to dawn on us than to make his only Son become the son of man, so that a son of man might in his turn become a son of God?” Then he added: “Ask if this were merited; ask for its reason, for its justification, and see whether you will find any other answer but sheer grace.”
How will you respond to “sheer grace” today?
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“When thinking about life, remember this: no amount of guilt can solve the past, and no amount of anxiety will change the future.” —Ruth Graham
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