God is pleased with our direction in this moment rather than after we've accomplished a goal or completed a future task.  We will never be perfected on this earth. (Rom 7:24) However, if in this moment, we are seeking God, the good news is that we are pressing forward in a Godly direction. As we live in this truth, we won't be thinking that someday, when we mature, we will be more pleasing to God. He is pleased with us at this moment if in this moment we are seeking Him. 

An inventor experiments. Over and over there is failure. However, through this process, he learns what does not work. All he has in the PAST are failed experiments and notes to not repeat those. In the PRESENT, he works hard in the hope that there will be success.  The FUTURE is unknown but exciting.  What might the invention turn into? Should he spend energy worrying about the future, he's wasted that time and energy that could have been used to learn from past mistakes. And learning from them is exactly what will result in a desired future.         

●    APPLYING THE PARALLEL: Like the inventor, we make mistakes and we MUST learn from them. We need to repent of sins which are mistakes. Like the inventor, we'd do best to learn from other's mistakes so that we would not have to waste our one life needlessly experimenting. Spending energy being concerned about the future keeps us from giving proper attention to what is right in front of us. We learn from the past, take charge of life in the present, and hope for the future.

Consider the past. Have you repented of your sins? Do you learn from your mistakes, or from what you view as others' mistakes?  Which ones haven't you learned from? If you spend time in regret or reminiscing on might have beens, what benefit do you receive?

Consider the future:  What benefit do you receive worrying about it?  How does trusting God for the future help you walk in peace in the present? 

Consider the present: How much of your time do you spend living in the moment, seeking God in the moment? Write out any personal accomplishments that you believe will make you more pleasing to God.  Consider that what you just wrote is the future.

Close your eyes, and be in this moment. Thank God for what He's done for you. Worship Him for his attributes including His Love and His Power. Tell Him right now you want His will, not yours. In this moment, you cannot please God more.

●   These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. (I Cor 10:11)

●     What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? (Rom 7:24)

●    This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

●     Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, (Phil 3:13)

●    Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. (Rom 4:20-21)

●    Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:14)

Soon