2002-05-13 - Everlasting Interests

Hosea 10:12 For it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes to rain righteousness on you.

It is not uncommon for a Christian to say, "I will soon get serious about my faith," or maybe even more common, "I will deal with that particular sin at another time, but soon." I don't want to play the heavy, but wisdom says, "Today." We don't know how much time we have left, but we know that time is short.

"Remember what my span of life is; for what vanity Thou has created all the sons of men! What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?" Psalm 89:47, 48

I would bet that many could testify that ten or twenty years ago they made the resolution to get serious concerning the things of God. The time has past and they still have the best intentions, but no execution. At some point in your life, maybe soon, there will be no more devotionals to read. There will be no sermons to hear. The Bible will no longer be available to read. The Spirit will no longer be able to convict of sin. As that day approaches, and we know not when it will arrive, every second that passes moves us that much closer to that day. It is time to strive after holiness now. It is time to serve the Lord now. We must not put it off until another day. Another day, or three months, or six years are all uncertain. The urgency is today.

You may think that I am out of line in saying these things to you. Frankly, I feel a little out of line. You might even be annoyed. And this is precisely why I am writing this. Sometime I will not be around to annoy you or you will not be around to be annoyed. Time will be over. You might think that Bible reading is unexciting, but whether you go to heaven or hell, there will come a time when you will have no opportunity to read the Bible. You may find prayer awkward now, but there will be no prayer after death. There is no need for it, the time for prayer will have past. Do you see the urgency of why I must annoy you with these thoughts? You might think your preacher is dull, or that he could at least be more interesting. There will come a day when there will be no more preachers to preach to you.

There is an urgency about some things in the Christian life. "The time is near" Revelation 1:3. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that we will get things together when we are older, or more mature, or more settled, or when things calm down at work. The urgency of time calls us to begin today. This is even more true if you have yet to trust in Christ.

If you have yet to seek the welfare of your soul in Christ, and are thinking, "I plan to, just not yet," you must think carefully about this. How long do think God will continue to be patient with you? What if satan sent you a contract and asked you to sign it? The contract says that you will never repent of sin. You will never pray. You will never seek the good of your soul. You will join satan in the judgment. You would be quite offended at his request to get you to sign such a document. But do you not realize that by putting off salvation in Christ you are already writing your name?  The call of Christ is to come to him if you would seek forgiveness.

"Behold, now is 'the acceptable time,' behold, now is 'the day of salvation" 2 Corinthians 6:2.

We all have some "now" that awaits us. Let us seek to not put off until  tomorrow what we should begin today.

Soli Deo Gloria,
T-

 tim@cfdevotionals.org
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