If Only...

"The Lord said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.'" Genesis 11:6

If Only...
By Rev. William Dohle

If only... how often have I heard those two words together.

Sometimes they're spoken in sorrow...
"If only I had said I loved him..."

Sometimes in longing...
"If only we had more time..."

Sometimes they're spoken to solve a problem...
"If only we had more workers..."

Or to justify one action or another...
"If only the economy were better..."

Always these words are spoken in the context of regret and under the assumption that, solving this problem, everything would be right. In the church I've heard them like this...

"If only we had more members..."
"If only we had more money..."
"If only we had a different pastor..."

Then... then... then...what??

Then... of course... everything would be better, life would be great, and our problems would fade away.

Unfortunately the "if onlys" never work. Probably because they warp time, making us see the future through the past. Making us regret the past while remaining in the future. Never really seeing that what we have in the present matters!

This all has been common...since the beginning. Since the start when the people cried out together... "If only we build this tower...then we'll reach to the heavens, make a name for ourselves, and not be scattered over the earth."

The people try. They build and build and build... but God intervenes. Seeing their work and their potential he says: "If only they remain united...then nothing will be impossible for them."

What the people fail to see here is their strength. So focused on the future, on the big tower that'll take them to heaven, the never see how their present unity can accomplish anything! They fail to see that the present is fleeting and what they took for granted before will soon be taken away.

God confuses their languages. And their big dream to reach the heavens and gain a name for themselves becomes, just that, a big dream. Nothing more.

We too can fall into their danger, thinking that "if only" this or that happened...then we'll make a name for ourselves, be united, have a great church, live a happy life, finally feel whole, be happily married, do God's work here, and so on.

What we forget in the "if only's" is that God is here ALREADY working the kingdom of God from within us. There is no "if only" there is only now. Now...God is calling us to work. Now... God is gathering his harvest. Now...the kingdom of God is growing. Now!

Look around you. The people sitting across from you at work, intersecting you on the streets, and playing baseball with your children are there for a reason. Your meeting is no accident. They are your mission field. They are your work.

Paul writes: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."(Ephesians 2:10) If God prepared good works in advance for you to do, than God has put those people in your life (and in your way) for a reason! There's a reason you're sitting in that cubicle next to that individual talking on that day about that topic. Your good work with them has been planned beforehand by God. We needn't wait for some tower to be built or some mission to finally take shape. We need only to look around us and see the harvest of God waiting to be gathered right here...now!

Ever Present God, you call us out of the future, back into the present. Help us remember the true gift you've given us is now. Help us to take hold of that time, to use it as you'd have us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.