Carpe Diem…

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  Your Heavenly Father knows that you need them.  Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

Matthew 6:31-33 (NIV)

Carpe Diem.

Uh?

Isn’t this one of those phrases we occasionally hear that sounds familiar but means little?  (It once sounded to me as an angler, that it had something to do with Carp fishing during the day!)

Actually it’s Latin from the leading Roman lyric poet Horace (65-8BC), living during the time of Augustus.  The phrase is part of the longer Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero: “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future”, and the ode says that the future is unknowable, and that instead one should scale back one’s hopes of a brief future and drink one’s wine.  The emphasis is on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting.

Here’s indeed a mixture of error and truth!

We should certainly seize the day, but trust in God for the future, (but certainly not in the future that man has planned).  It’s a bit like Isaiah 22:13 (KJV) where a rebuke went out to the Jewish nation in the face of ignorance about the coming invasion of the Persians.

We must indeed make the most of the here and now and do all we can to walk the Christian walk.  There is certainly no time like the present, but we must also trust God with the future that He has designed for us.

Prayer

Thank you, Wonderful God, for taking care of both the here and now, as well as the there and then.  Help us to trust you all of our life and beyond.

Amen

Study by Tony Goudie