Live in the moment. . .

Listening to some voice from pop culture, I heard the person give advice to children.  "Live in the moment."  It is the worst advice ever given.  It is precisely living in the moment that gets us into trouble.  The moment tells us to forget our principles and act deceptively.  The moment encourages us to set aside our values for what feels good.  The moment entices us with what we know is wrong but choose to believe will not hurt us or be found out.  The moment breaks down trust and destroys affection.  It is exactly the moment in which we should not live.  We need to have a thorough knowledge of our past and we need to have a solid promise of the future or the moment will become the worst prison we could ever know.  Do not ever tell children to live in the moment -- or adults!!

Living in the moment is the reason why husbands and wives betray their spouse for the inkling of desire.  Living in the moment is the reason why honorable people do dishonorable things in business and in life.  Living in the moment is the reason why children reject parental words for the sake of personal want.  Living in the moment is the reason why drugs entrap us and steal away the future we would hope for.  Living in the moment is the reason why we spend money on things we do not need and cannot pay for the things we do.  Living in the moment is the reason why pornography is the primary resource of our great internet technology.  Living in the moment is the reason why the send button or post button allows us to judge and hate and condemn with impunity (over email and social media).  Living in the moment allows us to consume the world and ignore the things of God without thought for accountability or judgment.  The list could go on and on.  You get my drift.  We are in the position we are in because we think only of the moment and live only in it without thought for what went before or what will follow.  Scripture puts living in the moment in different words -- everyone thinks, says, and does what is right in their own eyes.  Which, in case you missed it, was not a good thing and is still not a good thing.

Why anyone would say to kids (or adults) to live in the moment is beyond me.  It is the same foolishness as trust your feelings.  We come up with these pious platitudes which turn out not to be pious at all and instead diminish us individual people and as a society.  The mark of Scriptural maturity and the reign of the Gospel over us is not living in the moment but self-denial, sacrifice, and service to others.  But no one would tell kids to do that.  It does not have the same hollow ring of relevance that living in the moment does.  And there you have it -- the mark of sin is that we choose us over others, the moment over eternity, and the gods we manufacture over the One God revealed to us by His own saving will and purpose.  But what do I know. . . How has living in the moment ever built up our dignity or the nobility of human life or improved the lot of the needy or promoted the cause of virtue or made the world a better place?  Even by these worldly needs and standards living in the moment is poor advice.  How much worse is it when we would dare to put such trivial sentiment in the mouth of our Lord to make holy our self-indulgence?