March 26, 2025 – Lent Texts: Prov. 27:1, James 4:13-17, Matthew 6:34
Dear Friends in Christ,
“Search For Tomorrow” had a 35-year run on CBS and then NBC. Unlike other soaps it focused on one character – Joanne “Jo” Gardner. The show was performed live until 1967 when it started to be recorded. What is ironic about this soap opera is that it’s downfall is found in its title. After being on the air for 30 years, CBS moved it from its familiar time slot. This angered viewers – “don’t mess with my show!” What made the ratings plummet was the move to NBC in 1982. The show never recovered and was axed a few years later.
People like continuity. They did not want to go “searching” for “Search For Tomorrow” in a different time slot and God forbid, a different network. There would be no more “tomorrows” for loyal viewers of this soap opera.
What are you searching for? What do you want to do with your tomorrow? We too are a people who like continuity. When that gets upset . . . well that can lead to anxious moments. Scripture addresses this for us tonight. Jesus had a tomorrow in His future and that should take away our worry when we . . .
“SEARCH FOR TOMORROW”
We won’t take a lot of time with our Old Testament lesson because when you look it up in the Study Bible, the reference is to take a look at James 4, our Epistle lesson.
Proverbs says that we don’t know what the day will bring, that is true. James reminds us that the future is not in our hands. We do not control things. God controls time and history. Now planning is good stewardship, but not if our plans crowd out the things that God would have us do. James gives a great reminder that we seek what “the Lord wills.” By thinking this way, we make a confession of our faith that has confidence in the Lord’s care for us. He continues to show His fatherly, divine mercy toward us. He has given us life by His Son.
Now the Matthew passage is known not just by Christians who know their Bibles, it is known just as well by men and women outside the church. “Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Instructions the world tries to follow and fails. Instructions we try to follow and fail. You’ve probably heard it your whole life – “take one day at a time.” Great sentiment, hard to get in line behind.
If you are like me, when it comes to things like this, we are a dichotomy. That is inconsistent in our behavior. I can relax in life with the best of them. On a massage table, I can not move for an hour. Late night, laid out on a bed, headphones on, a barely move a muscle. Worried about tomorrow, not a chance.
Take that same human being and put him down in Florida in February. Flight home at 9 a.m. Got to be up by 4:30 a.m. We have over an hour drive. Fog is predicted. What about the toll we have to pay? Rental car needs gas and then returned. Need to hop a train to main terminal. Then train to terminal flying out of. Security line. So many things have to go right. At gate, two hours before flight. Get home later that day.
Can you relate? I want to be that guy in my 20’s who didn’t get anxious about any of this. I wasn’t searching for tomorrow, I was just living. Lord, I need to let go of the reins, take them please.
He does. He laughs at our human foibles. He has secured for us an eternal future. We should have no “tomorrow” worries. Jesus came in contact with death firsthand. He died and was buried. When Christ touched death, He brought life. When He rose from the dead, the search for tomorrow was over. He defeated death once for all time. Jesus broke death’s grip on our lives. If we are thrown into the grave with Him in His death, it means only life because He lives today.
Even though we still suffer the effects of trying to control our own lives, we are forgiven and are now part of the living because we are united in Jesus. So, when Christ returns, that great tomorrow Day, even our bodies will also be raised on the Last Day. The search is over.
Join us next week on this same station for . . . “The Young and the Restless.”
Amen.