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"Tomorrow Will Be Better Than Today!"
This is the spirit of optimism that pervades the New Testament from Matthew to the Apocalypse. There may be some dark days ahead for the Church, but we must keep in mind, Christ wants us safely home. We want to draw our lesson from Proverbs 4:18: “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (NLT). Life is a journey. The righteous are on the pathway to heaven, not the slippery road to hell.
My wife, Jean, and I are missionaries in Amazonas. Every new day finds us sitting on the riverfront veranda of our mission home. It’s located at the junction of the three-sisters-frontiers—Colombia, Peru and Brazil. As we sip fresh Colombian coffee, we witness the first “gleam of dawn.” We study God’s Word and then have prayer together. The little song birds come out to sing for us. The day is full of promise. Soon we witness “the full light of day. We have talked to God about men. Soon we must talk to men about God.
Old folks know more about being young than young folks know about being old. My Great-Great Grandparents, Emily and Eleazer Carpenter, built the first frame house in Buffalo County, Nebraska. Emily’s famous words were, “Next year will be a better one!” My Dad’s brother, Uncle Hank, often told me that he was born one-hundred years too late. He spent his best years in a saddle working horses and cattle. He wished he could have lived during the days of the great cattle drives. The nostalgic cowboy song, “EMPTY SADDLES,” was sung at his funeral.. Many a Christian would have liked to live in the days when Christ walked here on earth. However, we are living in the finest hour of New Testament fulfillment—right now, today!
This is the spirit of optimism that pervades the New Testament from Matthew to the Apocalypse. There may be some dark days ahead for the Church, but we must keep in mind, Christ wants us safely home. The end, therefore will be better than the beginning.
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