I grew up in what I thought were boring times. I remember thinking to myself, “I wish I lived in more exciting times.” Oh, youthful ignorance! How I would love to have the peace of my youth. I long to see young children playing unsupervised, to see a world that is less hostile, to know my neighbors, and to be able to borrow a cup of sugar. Do you remember when stores were closed on Sunday, when soda had sugar in it, when you felt like schools were a safe place? Things have changed, some things for the better, many for the worse. As I think about these changes, I often think, “Weren’t those days better?” But did you know that Solomon teaches us not to do that? In Ecclesiastes 7:10 we read, “Do not say, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” What a strange little proverb. Why would the wisest man to ever live say something like this? I believe, after much reflection, that there are some good reasons.

The first is this: “There is nothing new under the sun,” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10, 3:15 & 6:10). If we think the days are darker, we are probably just now starting to pay attention to the evil. I am not sure about you, but when I listen to classic rock there is a whole lot of wickedness being trumpeted and glorified. And that was “way back” in the 60s, 70s and 80s. When I try to re-watch some movies from the 70s and 80s I must turn many of them off. The truth is we often have just forgotten the evil that occurred in the “good ol’ days”. I know when I stop and think about the former days there was a lot more going on than I recalled. Evil has been in our world since the garden and will be until this world is done away with. Human nature will not usher us into utopia; we can see that clearly. Human nature, apart from the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, is depraved. We are morally lost without the compass of the Holy Spirit. We are dead in our trespasses and sins without the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Those truths remain true from the beginning of Genesis until the end of Revelation. So why does Solomon tell us not to look to the former days as being better? I believe Solomon instructs us to not live life in the rearview mirror because we might miss the here and now, and what lies ahead: the opportunities that will come in the days we live in, and the changes that can be made now for the future.

It is hard to make adjustments to what is happening in front of you when you are always looking behind. Sometimes we get so focused on the past that we miss the gifts and opportunities of the present. An unbalanced focus on the past does not give us an opportunity to look toward the future. If we are living in the past, we will surely miss our part in paving the way forward. I believe that we as believers must take the long view. We need to stop living in the past or the moment. Listen—we need a balance! We need not forget the past or rewrite our history. We need to both experience and live in the moment. However, we must also look to the future and, to the best of our abilities, navigate a way forward.

As Christians, we ought not forget what the past teaches us. The present gives us new opportunities and the future allows us the opportunity to hope and to dream. Church, yesterday is gone, but should not be forgotten. Today is here, live in it and look to the future. Our children need us to be forward-thinking and have a long view: so that they may grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ, that they may understand the importance of living as followers of Jesus Christ, and that they may know there is a hope—a hope within us—of better things to come. I do not believe they will be able to do that if we teach them that the best is behind us. For us, the best is yet to come, though perhaps not in this world. My hope is in the future, not the past.

May we be hopeful in and through the times we live in knowing that God is on the throne!