Articles
Do You Have a Future?
Actor Michael J. Fox was twenty-nine years old and his career was soaring. An energetic, funny and likeable TV star, Fox made the successful transition to feature-length films with Back to the Future. And then the diagnosis came … Parkinson’s. Only 5-10% of those stricken with Parkinson’s are under age 40. That diagnosis came thirty years ago, and though Fox has beat the odds by maintaining overall good health, the disease is now taking a heavy toll.
In an interview with Costco Connection, Fox made an observation that really gave me pause: “The future is the last thing you run out of. The moment until you shut down you’ve got a future …” (11/20, p 49).
Our future is something most of us take for granted because it is always there. There’s always tomorrow. There’s always a second chance. There’s always opportunity to improve. Until there isn’t.
I have long said that we cannot practically live each day as if it is our last. I just finished mowing the grass, and I guarantee you that if today was my last day on earth, no matter how high the grass was, I wouldn’t be pushing a lawnmower. In other words, daily life has duties, chores, amusements – things that are necessary and/or demand attention (or distract it) – that we wouldn’t engage if we knew it was our last day of life.
So, let’s clean this thought up a bit. I must live each day in a state of preparation, so that if today is my last day I will die in fellowship with God. I must strive to live each day with my priorities properly arranged, so that if today is my last day I will not be overcome with regret concerning important things that have been neglected. I must live each day with integrity, so that if today is my last day I will not leave the living with added sorrow over wasted opportunity or unresolved grievances. But it is not accurate to say that each day should be structured so as to reflect last-day reality. That is an unrealistic platitude.
To live with a view to our earthly future is vital for several reasons:
The future is hope. No matter how things are today, we can hope that tomorrow will bring change and improvement. Future hope enables man to withstand extreme suffering. This has been documented at length with prisoners of war. The captor’s abusive treatment is designed to demoralize, to paint such a bleak picture of the captive’s predicament that they will be rendered passive, controllable. It takes a lot of abuse to crush hope.
While Christians have the greatest hope of all – eternal life (Tit 1:2; 3:7) – we also have hope in God’s management of human affairs. We should not fall into despair over elections, economics or other earthly concerns. Ecclesiastes describes the ebb and flow of life, but such movement is not random. As Lord of lords, Jesus governs nations, rulers and world events so that His “will [is] done on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Hope is a powerful force that keeps motivating even those whose faith and vision do not perceive heavenly realities.
The future is purpose. We need a reason that is greater than ourselves to get up each morning. We have a deep need to feel valuable to others. That value varies: we won’t all be President of the United States or a wealthy benefactor or a discoverer of a cancer cure. But it is vital that we retain a sense of meaningfulness in order to be emotionally healthy.
When facing the potential of his demise, Paul acknowledged his importance to others: “I am hard pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you” (Ph 1:24). None of us is indispensable, but we have an important role to play. Those who have lost sight of this sink into depression and despair, and some who feel they have no purpose at all take their own life. What an empty, painful place that must be.
The future is growth. It is true, we are “works in progress.” None of us has arrived, and we won’t in this life. As long as we are breathing there is opportunity to learn, improve, achieve, correct. There is the prospect of improving our knowledge of God and worship of Him. There are deep truths we have not yet discovered or at least fully comprehended. There are new avenues of exploration, new skills that can help us serve others, new aspects of our relationships both human and divine to develop.
This is exciting! Life is more than a long downhill trudge to oblivion. Yes, our bodies will become weak, our steps feeble, our sight dim (Ecc 12:1-8), but “even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor 4:16). Conscientious people lament their faults, but they instinctively aspire to be smarter, wiser, more aware, etc. So powerful is this hope that it can become a substitute for the real thing; i.e., we can forever tell ourselves that “tomorrow is another day” and never actually make meaningful changes in our character or lifestyle. We feed on the hope itself rather than the reality it can bring.
The future is joy. We all look forward with eager anticipation to holidays, celebrations, exploration, vacations, the growth of our children, success, retirement, grandparenthood, etc. Excited expectation of earthly milestones and temporal joys bathes life with a warm glow.
Such anticipation is as natural as breathing and unconsciously sustains us through many hardships and disappointments. I think this is what Michael J. Fox was getting at. Even though he contracted Parkinson’s, he has managed a 30-year struggle because he looked to his own future, not with dread or self-pity but purpose and possibilities. He has raised a billion dollars for Parkinson’s research and elevated awareness of the disease and in so doing turned his misfortune into good.
Here’s the rest of the ellipsis from Fox’s observation cited in paragraph 2: “The moment until you shut down you’ve got a future, and then you don’t.” We can wonder how we would react to the news of our earthly demise, but we will never know the brutal starkness of that truth until it actually happens. We need to ponder it and acknowledge its inevitability but realize that it cannot be fully processed until it is our reality. Till then, we must work “while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (Jn 9:4). And let us show compassion for those whose future on earth is spent and whose focus is now wholly centered on their eternal destiny.
