We've Got Tomorrow
I heard that song from the famous theologian, Bob Seger, the other day. "We've got tonight... who needs tomorrow". Its the song that attempts, and to an alarming degree succeeds, to make a one-night stand sound like a glorious and beautiful thing. The song has always made me a little sad, but never more than this time. I've always known that its all wrong from a moral standpoint. But this time around, I got to thinking about what lies below.
Today's society, particularly in America, has become very "now" oriented. Being "now" oriented is a product of being "me" oriented I think. Take Japan, for example, where Toyota is developing a 50-year plan to take over the United States small airplane market. 50 years! Many engineers and others working on the project will be dead before the project ever reaches fruition, and yet they work diligently. Why? The culture is "we" oriented, not "me" oriented, and as a result, its not "now" oriented either, or less so than America anyway.
God's desire is for us to be Christ-oriented, which means being "we" oriented ("we" being the church), and "later" oriented. Instead we, Christians included, want the now. We want to be successful, drive nice cars, have nice houses and children, or maybe pursue degrees or see the world (pick your passion -- mine is the pursuit of various hobbies). We want to do all the things and have all the things everyone else does, and try to squeeze Christianity in there somewhere too. Then we wonder why we burn out. Christian burnout happens when we try to do the Lord's work without sacrificing any worldly pursuits. There just isn't enough time for everything, so which will it be? (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with any of the above; only that we tend to let them distract us from the important thing).
Bob Seger in his song makes life seem hopeless, and without Christ, he's absolutely right. There is no hope, and you might as well make the night last and live it up. So SO sad.
But as believers in Jesus, we've got tomorrow... who needs today? Let's do something that lasts... let's find a way. Give today to God. Its His anyway. (All rhyming unintentional, but kinda cool it worked out that way, huh?). :)
Today's society, particularly in America, has become very "now" oriented. Being "now" oriented is a product of being "me" oriented I think. Take Japan, for example, where Toyota is developing a 50-year plan to take over the United States small airplane market. 50 years! Many engineers and others working on the project will be dead before the project ever reaches fruition, and yet they work diligently. Why? The culture is "we" oriented, not "me" oriented, and as a result, its not "now" oriented either, or less so than America anyway.
God's desire is for us to be Christ-oriented, which means being "we" oriented ("we" being the church), and "later" oriented. Instead we, Christians included, want the now. We want to be successful, drive nice cars, have nice houses and children, or maybe pursue degrees or see the world (pick your passion -- mine is the pursuit of various hobbies). We want to do all the things and have all the things everyone else does, and try to squeeze Christianity in there somewhere too. Then we wonder why we burn out. Christian burnout happens when we try to do the Lord's work without sacrificing any worldly pursuits. There just isn't enough time for everything, so which will it be? (I'm not saying there's anything wrong with any of the above; only that we tend to let them distract us from the important thing).
Bob Seger in his song makes life seem hopeless, and without Christ, he's absolutely right. There is no hope, and you might as well make the night last and live it up. So SO sad.
But as believers in Jesus, we've got tomorrow... who needs today? Let's do something that lasts... let's find a way. Give today to God. Its His anyway. (All rhyming unintentional, but kinda cool it worked out that way, huh?). :)
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3 Comments:
So when is the mp3 version of your song gonna be available?
Just kidding... Good post!
Thanks, I think this is my new favorite post ("ask a silly question" moving back to second place). But I did scare myself a bit with the cheezy poetry at the end. The rhyming really was an accident, honest! :P
Oh, cool, thanks! Yeah, I recognize you from BennyK. Now that you've commented I'll be inspired to look at your site some more. It was some good stuff iirc.
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