Now is the Time
“But make sure that you don’t get
so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations
that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is
about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God
is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first
believed. We can’t afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious
daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation,
in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed!
Don’t loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves
in Christ, and be up and about!” Rm. 13:11-14 (MSG)
How much of every day do you squander doing things that don’t
last, working for things that don’t satisfy, and living for things that won’t
bring about eternal satisfaction? If we are all truly honest with one another,
we would have to admit that much of our day, every day, is spent on things that
in the end, just don’t matter. We focus on the trivial so we don’t have to look
at the things that really matter, but are difficult. We spend our lives
pursuing things that never satisfy but seem always so important. In the end,
what is it that we have to show for our efforts?
As a pastor, I get the opportunity to spend time with those in
the last days of life, listening to their joys and their regrets. I get to
listen to how either they have taken great joy in how they spent their lives or
how foolish they have been and wish they could have a “Do Over”. Life doesn’t give do overs, so the best we
can hope for is to do our best to get it right the first time around. In the
letter to the Roman Church, the Apostle Paul tells them that it is time for
them to wake up and get going on the things of God, and if not now, when? He
tells them to stop burning daylight for things that don’t matter and instead,
focus on the things that can make an eternal difference.
What lessons do you want to be remembered for? What do you
want your children and grandchildren to know about how you spent your life?
Perhaps now, TODAY, is the time to make the break and leave the foolish
pursuits of the past in the dust heap and start working diligently for the
things that touch the lives of others, build up those around you, make your
family, your neighborhood, your business, your world, a better place to live
in, just by you having been a part of it. I, in all my years have never heard
anyone at the end of life say, I wish I would have spent more time at work and
less with my family, more time making money and less time with God. I usually
hear just the opposite.
So don’t spend the bulk of your time, however much you have
left, writing more schedules, pursuing bigger fortunes, arranging more
meetings, but instead, pour yourself into others, build lasting relationships,
enjoy the beauty that is all around you even in the worst of days and most of
all, come to know your creator. He loves you and want you to come home again.
Rev. Michael VandenBerg
Pastor, HOPE Community Church @ the YMCA
No comments:
Post a Comment