Timing is Everything

2 Corinthians 6:2 “For God says, ‘At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.’ Indeed, God is ready to help you right now. Today is the day of salvation.” NLT

Every year on New Year’s Day, millions of people make New Year’s Resolutions. Without a doubt and without much debate, the #1 resolution made...I’m sure you can guess it...is to lose weight. I’m also positive that if you’re reading this, either you or someone close to you has also made that same resolution. We all know that as God’s creation, our health is important to Him, yet sometimes it’s a difficult aspect of our lives to consistently maintain.

“Tomorrow, I’ll start,” I’ve heard people say. “After the first of the year, I’m going to lose weight,” others have said. And still others I’ve heard say, “On Monday, I’m starting my diet.” When I’ve talked with others who are on a weight-loss journey already, they feel horrible when they stray off of their plan. They may have caved to temptation and then feel as though all hope is lost, at least for the rest of the day. I’ve thought all of those same things too. When I “fall off the wagon,” I feel like I can then just keep failing for the rest of the day because, well, the day is spoiled! “I’ll start again tomorrow,” I’ve thought. It’s those thoughts though that led me to obesity and prevented me from living a healthy lifestyle for 32 years. Putting off until tomorrow what I should’ve been doing today kept me from ever fully realizing the healthy lifestyle that God had designed for me. Tomorrow came late. I’m thankful that the “tomorrow” or “Monday morning” I so often mentioned finally did come, but it came so much later than it should have!

In this second letter to the Corinthian church, Paul discusses the ministry of reconciliation that we have in pointing others to Jesus. He has given us a task, but for some reason, we often ignore this wonderful calling of God. For some reason, we often neglect telling others what God has done in our hearts. But Paul states very plainly, “Indeed, the right time is now. Today is the day of salvation.” There’s no need to delay accepting Him as Lord of your life or telling others about Him. Delaying in witnessing the cleansing work of God is cheating others out of eternal life. What precious time we waste when we procrastinate in telling others about Him. We are not promised tomorrow. One woman who shaped my Christian mind as a child used to pray, “Lord help us to remember that today is the day of salvation; tomorrow may never come.” Hearing that prayer set in my heart an urgency to see others saved.

Like our spiritual lives, our physical lives are nothing with which to play around. There’s no need to delay. First of all, we need to remember that wasting precious time that we should be spending living healthy lives is simply cheating ourselves of what God wants to do. He desires to give us so much more energy and good health so that we may serve Him longer. Secondly, even when we are sincerely trying to live in a healthful way, there will be times of failure and temptation. But when those things do occur, we need not feel like the entire day is wasted. We can get back up and keep going. Why make a bad situation worse by piling on more guilt and more things to simply drag us down? We must remember that imperfect progress is better than zero progress. Even though the path we’ve mapped out may look different than the one we’re walking, doesn’t mean that we’ve eternally failed. 

Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may never come.

What will you do today? How will you handle possible failures and setbacks? The entire day is not wasted. There’s no time like today!

Encouragement for Today

Ephesians 5:15-17 “So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.” NLT

Proverbs 27:1 “Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.” NLT