Why the Present Moment Matters

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You make known to me the path of life;

in your presence there is fullness of joy;

at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16:11

I remember a conversation I had many years ago taking a spring walk with one of my siblings. We were both in high school, a time when independence is only just out of reach, and he explained to me that he was impatient that he wasn’t where he wanted to be yet. He said to me, “I just wish I could skip through this dragging point in time and get to the part I care about!” I could relate to that, and sometimes I still do. It felt as though more time was spent waiting than actually doing anything - waiting for a driver’s license, adulthood, college, etc. But something didn’t sound quite right. I paused to reflect before responding to him, “We just haven’t figured out what this slow time in life is meant for yet.” To which he replied, “Well, nothing is happening, so why does it matter?” But I was trying to figure out why the present moment, as dull as it can get, mattered for myself and had nothing to say to him. The feeling of discontentment in the present moment did not go away in college, and from what I understand, it can be experienced throughout a very long life. It took me a few years after this conversation to realize why the present moment is so precious. Being in the present is vanity if there is no purpose in life that is greater than life itself. For the Christian, then, the present is a freeing and joy-filled gift purchased for us by the finished work of Christ. It is an experience filled with His purpose for us, and filled with His presence, whether we are living the greatest day of our lives or many months of slowness and waiting.

Why Every Moment Matters: It is Filled With Eternal Purpose

Tony Robbins, a popular secular life coach up to date, has an article on his website that explains how to “Unlock the answers to the age-old question of how to find purpose in life.”¹ The foundation of his tips are explained by the statement “There are many benefits of knowing your purpose – but how can you figure it out? It is a combination of the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment that creates the road to happiness and a life of meaning. To succeed in finding your purpose, you must master this balance.”¹ His tips for mastering this balance include things such as searching inward, taking ownership of your life, developing your own life vision statement, and more.¹ The purpose of our lives according to Robinson’s website is all up to us. None of the information on the article, and frankly the entire website, indicates any reason why this life matters, or any hope outside of ourselves. It is an age-old truth that humans fail, and fail more often than we know. If we are trying to make our own purpose and give an answer to why this moment matters, we will be wading through dark waters that eventually drown us. We will be swimming in a lie. There is already a purpose for all of humanity, but there is only One who gives us purpose, whether or not we believe it.

In Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul explains, “I do not consider that I have made [the resurrection from the dead] my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Paul realizes that every attempt to achieve eternal life and salvation based on his own efforts is futile. Every effort to find purpose in himself is in vain. Only Christ lived the perfect life on earth, and only Christ can give us eternal life. Paul is explaining that the finished work of Christ on the cross gave him purpose in his life. Paul presses through every hardship and trial that comes his way because he is so fixed on what lies ahead of him: not just eternal life, but eternal life and joy with our greatest Friend, our God and Savior. Paul is not saying that we can go ahead and do whatever we want now because it doesn’t matter anymore. He is saying that our life is meaningless when we try to make our lives our own, pursuing our own desires while trying to be good by our own standards. Truly, we must turn from ourselves and run to Christ, and only then will we be forgiven of our sins and given a true, lasting purpose for this life that is anchored in our eternal life with Him.

What does this have to do with being in the present? The present is meaningless when there is no purpose. Yes, the world tries to explain that our purpose in the world is to be a good person, to make a name for yourself that will last many generations, and ultimately to find purpose in ourselves. The truth is that these purposes will fade and die, but the only lasting and worthy purpose for any soul is found in living for Christ. For those who love Christ above all else, the present is the moment by moment given to us to live and act in our purpose. Do not set your purpose and joy on what will happen tomorrow, or longing for what happened yesterday. Every moment is precious as we carry eternity in our hearts in every moment as we serve Christ.

The Present is Filled with His Presence

However, the present can feel mundane or maybe even unbearably difficult, and it seems it would be much better to think about yesterday or tomorrow. I can recall many times, even recently, that I had wished a week to go by so that I can experience a much better one. However, the peace and beauty that can be found in the present is not from a lack of trial or an abundance of exciting events. The truth is that God is present with us in the present moment, even if we are not aware of it, and He is the one who sustains us and gives us purpose. The classic Theologian A.W. Tozer explains how every moment is filled with God, and therefore filled with purpose:

The doctrine of the divine omnipresence personalizes man’s relation to the universe in which he finds himself. The great central truth gives meaning to all truths and imparts supreme value to all his little life. God is present, near him, next to him, and this God sees him and knows him through and through.²

God’s presence in the world means that our purpose is not reserved for when we are in heaven, for He his presence makes every moment of our lives valuable. I am speaking of love and awe that floods the heart as you remember, sitting where you are, that even here, He is with me. It is when we are worldly minded, forgetting He is beside us, that we do not feel His presence because whether or not we feel it, Jesus told us, “I will be with you always, even unto the ends of the earth” (Matthew 28:20). One of the places I can most feel the presence of God is in nature, which is supported by scripture when it says, “For His invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So [unbelievers] are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). The beauty, complexity, and creativity of nature is greater than any human invention, and reflects a divine Creator. I know that I find myself easily distracted when I am spending time in nature, but how good it is for my soul when I look up to the heavens and remember that God is greater than them. His comforting presence is deeply felt when I look at the magnificence of nature in awe of Him. This is not to say that God is nature or that He is somehow contained in nature, which is a heresy preached by pantheists, but God’s work is clearly perceived when we look at what has been made through Him (John 1:3). But even when we are not in the beauty of nature, we must remember that He is with us even in the walls of our homes and office spaces.

No matter where we are, our minds will be less sensitive to the presence of God if we are not spending time with Him. How do we do this? By listening to His Word, which has been written for us in the scriptures, and is all-sufficient for our entire lives. We must also grow closer to Him by communicating with Him through prayer, which is not simply a matter of making a number of praises and requests before ending with an “amen,” but talking to God, as our most compassionate Father. We speak to our friends in the world whenever we get to be with them or call them, but God is with us all the time.

All of this is not to say that the presence of God is some warm and fuzzy feeling with strange and colorful visions, or some voice speaking to us, that makes us feel good about our lives. When we are trying to seek God simply through an emotional experience rather than through familiarity with His word and in prayer to Him, it can create the confusion that being with God is about an emotional high. Pastor and Theologian Donald Whitney wonderfully explains how God’s presence can be wrongly pursued:

We don’t try to experience the presence of God just any way that pleases us. I am concerned by current trends in evangelical spirituality toward mysticism, or what is sometimes called Christian mysticism. The essence of mysticism is the attempt to experience God unmediated, that is, without means. This is the belief that apart from any external assistance, you enter directly into an experience of the presence of God. Often this will be described as looking deep within your soul to meet the indwelling presence of God, or to imagine Him sitting with you. The problem is, as spiritual as this may sound, the Bible never commands us to do this or ever describes such an experience.³

Dear friends, please do not pursue emotions and exciting, spiritual experiences to find God or to make the present feel like it has meaning. He is not limited by how we feel or what we are doing, and neither is our purpose. Pursue Him by knowing Him through His Word, through prayer, and through fellowship with true believers. You will be reminded more and more that God is with you always and grow in sensitivity to His comforting and awe-filled presence.

Conclusion

As the psalmist David says in Psalm 16:11:

You make known to me the path of life;

in Your presence there is fullness of joy;

at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Pray that He would help you grow in such a way that you would not forget the One who has given you purpose, and the One who sustains and provides for you to live out this purpose. Please do not believe the lie of the world that purpose is found within ourselves. God is the One who shows us the significance of our lives, but it is not a life a part from Him. In Christ, He has given us a life freed from darkness and filled with Him. In Him, there is fullness of joy that is meant for eternity.

References

1. “What is my Purpose?: Unlock the Answers to the Age-Old Question of How to Find Purpose in Life.” Tony Robbins, https://www.tonyrobbins.com/stories/date-with-destiny/what-is-my-purpose/. Accessed February 17, 2022.

2. Towzer, AW. The Knowledge of the Holy. Fig, 2012, pp. 96-97.

3. Whitney, Donald. Ten Questions to Diagnose Your Spiritual Health. Navpress, 2001, pp. 59-60.