"To be sure, the Enemy wants men to think of the Future too—just so much as is necessary for now planning the acts of justice or charity which will probably be their duty tomorrow.
The duty of planning the morrow's work is today's duty; though its material is borrowed from the future, the duty, like all duties, is in the Present. This is not straw splitting. He does not want men to give the Future their hearts, to place their treasure in it. We do. His ideal is a man
who, having worked all day for the good of posterity (if that is his vocation), washes his mind of the whole subject, commits the issue to Heaven, and returns at once to the patience or gratitude demanded by the moment that is passing over him. But we want a man hag-ridden by the Future—haunted by visions of an imminent heaven or hell upon earth—ready to break the Enemy's commands in the present if by so doing we make him think he can attain the one or avert the other—dependent for his faith on the success or failure of schemes whose end he will not live to see. We want a whole race perpetually in pursuit of the rainbow's end, never honest, nor kind, nor happy now, but always using as mere fuel wherewith to heap the altar of the future every real gift which is offered them in the Present."
-Letter XV, The Screwtape Letters In reference to the italicize part, I wish I were like that. Just do what I can do for the day, "commit the issue to heaven", and leave it at that, not wasting any effort on worrying about the future.
A biblical perspective on time:
Psalms 90:4 - For a thousand years in thy sight [are but] as yesterday when it is past, and [as] a watch in the night.
Psalms 90:12 - So teach [us] to number our days, that we may apply [our] hearts unto wisdom.
Ephesians 5: 16 Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.
Try not to put your heart in tomorrow. It may get broken. Instead, put your faith and trust in the God of tomorrow who will not fail us.
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