Future Fever

People are willing to do almost anything to have the future they want.  Some will literally stop at nothing to have the future they envision.  This may, at first glance, seem admirable but the cemeteries of the world are filled with those who stood in the way of someone's vision of the future. Cain and Abel had two different visions of the future.  When Cain's vision of the future was rejected by God, a fever burned inside Cain and he killed he own brother to eliminate the future competition. The future fever that burned in the heart of Cain was just the beginning. The fever would spread and millions would die. Some of the more recent mass future fever killings were led by men named Stalin, Hitler and Mao. Their future fever burned so hot  that it led them to murder millions. Though most are not as evil on the world stage as these future fevered men, we are all tempted to kill relationships to secure the future we envision.  We, too, can catch future fever. Older men trade the wives of their youth for a younger woman.  Company executives move older employees into early and unwanted retirement to save a few dollars.  Young pregnant women abort tiny babies to continue pursuing lucrative careers.  Friends abandon old friends in order to move in a more popular group. Pastors build churches while abandoning Jesus' followers who get in their way. While in the grip of future fever we all are tempted to kill whatever impedes our move toward the future we believe we need. Living for a future we feel we must have makes us all dangerous to ourselves, others and the glory of God. The only man who ever lived completely free from the fever of needing to have and protect a future at other's expense was Jesus. From eternity Jesus had the future He wanted. He never lost it.  He left his future voluntarilly to die for us.  Rather than kill us to get a future He wanted, He left what He had and died so we could have with Him the future He already had and we really need right now. At this moment Jesus' future is in us.   He abides in us as our future so we can lay our life down for our friends who need to live His future. The next time you are about to panic and protect your future in some way that will kill a relationship, remember that Christ in you is your future and nothing can take your future away.  Nothing. Turn the other cheek.  Go the extra mile.  Don't worry about tomorrow. Forgive 70x7. Love your enemy.   This kind of living can only happen if our future is not an issue.  This only can happen when we say  "For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain." May God deliver us personally from the temptation to fight others, leave others or kill others for our future.  May God rid the world of those who fill the cemeteries with the bodies of those who stood in their way and fill the world with friends of Jesus who will lay their life down so their friends can live Jesus' future now. "Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends."  John 15:13   Bud McCord Abide International