A fix-it shop owner told his wife as he walked out the door to go to work at his shop for the day, “I want to take tomorrow off, so I’m going to fix today everything anyone brings into my shop tomorrow.” You probably had to re-read that sentence, and you’re right, it makes no sense. A fix-it shop owner can’t fix today what people will bring in broken tomorrow.
I made up the story because it often illustrates how we live. We’re frequently tempted to do what the fictional fix-it shop owner thought he could do. We want to fix tomorrow’s trouble today. But the truth is that whether realistically projected or imagined, we often can’t solve tomorrow’s problems today.
We can look at the two-day forecast that calls for storms tomorrow. But we can’t deal with the storms of tomorrow, only the weather of today.
Okay, sometimes we can make a few preparations for a coming storm tomorrow and beyond (like we do in Florida with hurricane preparedness). And we can address some issues today that lessen the impact of tomorrow’s problems, but, for the most part, today is the only day we can do something about.
Then there’s the fact that much of what we worry about for tomorrow never materializes. Winston Churchill observed, “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”
I agree with Churchill. There have been times I’ve been all worked up about how something might not work out. Many times, the bad situation never developed. Even if it did, my worrying the day before hadn’t helped a bit. Either way, I wasted time, was distracted, and expended emotional energy, all of which had no redeeming value.
Corrie Ten Boom, survivor of a World War II concentration camp and Christian author stated, “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow. It empties today of its strength.” Popular author Zig Ziglar said much the same thing. “Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace.” Put together, Corrie and Zig are saying that worrying about tomorrow saps your strength and robs you of your peace for today. Borrowing trouble from tomorrow comes at a high interest rate. It doesn’t pay to borrow sorrow from tomorrow.
If we’re committed to God ruling our lives and living His way, then He’s going to take care of our today, and we can count on Him to do the same for our tomorrow.
Bible commentator D. A. Carson writes in reference to our closing verse of scripture that’s to follow, “Today’s grace is sufficient only for today and should not be wasted on tomorrow. If tomorrow does bring new trouble, there will be new grace to meet it” (Commentary on Matthew, p. 441).
Tomorrow isn’t here yet. What we have is today. Enjoy God’s blessings of the day and hold on to Him for help in the difficulties of today. Tomorrow will come soon enough, and the Lord will be there with His blessings and help. Embrace today!
Jesus said, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matthew 6:34).
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