The Gospel gives us a challenging but deeply important reminder: We must live in the present — in the presence of God.
The most important part of your future is how you live with God right now.
There was a study that found we spend 47% of our waking hours thinking about something other than what we’re currently doing.
When was the last time you actually focused on peeling a potato? Or on driving your car? Or while standing in line at Aldi? When was the last time you stood annoyed waiting for someone who missed the memo of the speedy checkout and is counting exact change in pennies, and instead of being annoyed you stopped and you realized that God is present.
Here’s the truth: If we don’t stop and root ourselves in the present moment, we will never experience the peace of God.
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
We can only know God if we are still. And we can only be still if we are present.
Jesus doesn’t take us out of the storm — He meets us in it. He doesn’t always part the waters — sometimes He carries us through them. He doesn’t always lift the burden — but He walks with us in it.
But we are so busy looking ahead — trying to outrun the flood, trying to avoid the hurricane — that we miss the Christ who stands with us now.
This is why this message matters — because if you don’t stop living in the future, you may stop living altogether.
The Parable of Greed
At the beginning of Luke 12, Jesus is teaching deeply spiritual and life-changing truths. And right in the middle of this, someone interrupts Him: “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
A legal, material dispute — dropped right into the middle of deeply spiritual teaching.
And how does Jesus respond? “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” He warns the crowd: “Be on guard against all kinds of greed. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
Jesus doesn’t just warn about greed for money — but all kinds of greed. Greed is dissatisfaction with the present. It’s a restless craving for a future that hasn’t arrived. It could be success, status, control — anything you don’t have yet.
And that is the context in which Jesus tells the parable. A rich man’s land produces an abundance of crops. So, what does he do?
He talks to himself. “What shall I do?” “I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones.” “I will store all my grain and goods.” “I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years — relax, eat, drink, be merry.”
But God interrupts him: “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared?”
Because, guess what… The only future that’s guaranteed is the one you’re living right now. Are you spending that moment with God, or storing up for yourself?
Life Hidden in Christ
In Colossians 3, St. Paul tells us: “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated…” “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
To be in Christ is to live a new life now — not someday, not later. It’s to die to the anxious self that grasps and clutches and fears.
There’s a verse in Proverbs that says: “Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth.” It’s a reminder that God blesses the moment you’re in — not the one you fantasize about.
Psalm 107 says: “Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them… He led them by a straight way…”
Even in the wilderness, even in hunger — when they cried out in the moment — God was present.
Here’s the thread:
- The Psalm calls us to thanksgiving — even in the desert.
- The Epistle calls us to transformation — a death to self, and life in Christ.
- The Gospel calls us to realignment — to stop stockpiling futures and start meeting God now.
The Practice of Watchfulness
In the Christian tradition, we call this practice watchfulness — or in the Greek fathers it is what is known as nepsis.
Watch your mind. Watch where it goes. Watch what it clings to.
Here’s a practice for this week:
- Each morning or evening, pause.
- Name one thing on your mind from the past.
- Name one thing you’re anxious about in the future.
- Then ask the Holy Spirit to center you in the present.
- Say: “Lord, help me be here with You, now.”
To simplify those 5 steps, I will give you three simple things to remember, we will call them the three Rs of being present:
Reflect on the past (what’s still sitting in your heart) Release the future (what’s causing fear or distraction) Receive the present moment with God
As the English Orthodox priest Fr. Meletios Webber writes: “We can only meet God in the present moment.”
If we live in the past or the future — we might build barns, but our souls will never rest. We’ll never truly know God. And we’ll never find our way.
The only future that matters… is the one you’re living in this moment.
So stop. Breathe. Be still. And live — in the presence of the Lord.