Even though they had to make it in 1989, Back to the Future (Part II) got 2015 almost exactly right. This single screenshot captures it perfectly:

How did Steven Spielberg know we’d be wearing rifle-bullet chokers and painting our faces to look like a circuit board? Self-fulfilling prophecy I guess. Either way, for Marty McFly, the future has come and gone. What was once unknown is now in history books.

The future is often different than we predict, but not always.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

If you travelled back in time to last spring, you could bet the house that Chicago would win the World Series. Even when they lost games, you wouldn’t be biting your nails like the other Cubs fans.  “Just wait,” you’d tell them.

In the same way, when our eyes are fixed on “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,” we are betting on a sure thing. Our perspective changes everything. Lives fixed on “the things that are unseen” have certain, unmistakable characteristics.

Suffering is counted as light and momentary.

The most effective medicine to alleviate pain is comparison. Hurt may run deep and be intense at times, but when measured against a painless, joy-filled eternity, it is a blip.

For more, see “Stopping Storms”

Value is measured in life-transformation.

Careers and commercial success can be good things, but they have a shelf life. Those who focus on eternity care most about people (because people are the only things that will last for eternity). Their system uses a different kind of currency.

Current events are leveraged for evangelism.

The racial and political temperature in our country seems close to boiling point, and, with MLK Day falling the same week as President Trump’s inauguration, there is no shortage of social commentary about it. If you listen closely, however, everyone’s conclusion is the same: “We long for a better country.” That’s because there is a better country, but it’s a heavenly one (Hebrews 11:16). Every other place will disappoint. So, we tell them about the Kingdom of God and the good news of Jesus Christ.

Where are your eyes set today? Is life a little dizzying?  Do not lose heart. Just wait, the future is a sure thing.