Gazing into the Future

Face App has been all the rage the last few weeks.  In case you don’t know about this viral app with over 100 million downloads, it’s a photo-altering tool that adds decades to your appearance.  What might we look like in 25 or 50 years?  Examples are all over social media.

Now this has me curious:  What’s the big attraction?  I thought peo­ple generally don’t like to imagine getting old.  And yet, maybe if it’s someone else’s radical aging, then we’re captivated and want to see.  There are images of the British Royals circulating online—Kate and Harry and Meghan as senior citizens.  And there’s a before-and-after of NFL running back Saquon Barkley.  And lots more.  Fascinating.

Or maybe Face App is trending because we tend to envision the future only in vague, abstract terms.  But then here comes this app that shows what you might look like one day—and with precision, right down to the very last wrinkle.  Tomorrow suddenly seems real.

Or is it intriguing because it gives hope?  There’s that face, your face, with the same basic expression you have now—it’s recognizably you.  And that elderly selfie sage looking back from the future says, “I’m still here” … “You’ll still be you” … “Life goes on” …  Maybe some people who have a particularly grim view of the future gain hope this way:  “I might actually live, and even smile, into old age!”

But if we reflect more deeply, as followers of Jesus we should ponder the future humbly.  In James 4:13-17 we recently saw that speculation about the unknown isn’t ours to do.  It’s presumptuous to say, “Tomorrow we’ll go here, we’ll do this and that…” as if we were sovereign over the future.  Better to say, and to pray, “Lord, if it’s your will, if you give us another day, help us live it for your honor!”

And what’s more, we do well to look to the future not with selfies in view but awaiting the sight of the Savior.  One day all people “will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).  Yes, “every eye will see him” (Revela­tion 1:7).  Count on it.  The victorious and glorious return of Christ is a bedrock promise of the Bible, and it is THE decisive event of the future.  “Lord, captivate our hearts with the promise of your appearing.”