IF NOT NOW, WHEN?

Scripture for the day: Proverbs 18:9 He who is slothful in his work is a brother to him who is a great destroyer.

Thought for the day: I’m late again. Over the course of time, I’ve been late so often people were tempted to refer to me as “the late pastor Young.” The only thing I seem to be able to do right on time is put things off until sometime later. But that’s a story for another time, if you know what I mean.

I heard of the North American Procrastinator’s Club not long ago. I was going to join but I haven’t gotten around to it. One of their spokesmen was quoted as saying, “If any of our members paid their dues on time we’d throw them out.” He also said, “We believe anything worth doing is worth putting off.” Hmmm, sounds like something I might have come up with. I once put a poster on my office door that read, “There is nothing so useless as doing something efficiently that should not be done at all” (well, there’s actually a bit more wisdom in that than we’d like to think).

Let’s think about this idea of putting off until tomorrow what we truly ought to be doing today. The Bible is full of instances in which we’re admonished to take care of business while it’s still ‘today.’ “Today is the day of salvation.” That was the message when the rich young ruler came to ask Jesus what he must do to be saved. Jesus looked at him, cut through all the self-righteous mumbo-jumbo about keeping commandments and such, and said, “Go and sell everything you have, give the money to the poor, and come follow Me.” The obvious imperative there is that the young man do it today, not when he’d finished setting up his retirement system. Jesus told those who would follow him to “let the dead bury the dead; you come follow me.” Again, the obvious implication is that a decision to follow the Lord is a ‘Today’ decision, not one to be put off until a more convenient time. “I’ll do it when…” “I’ll give after…” “I will obey, but first…” None of those will cut it when we’re standing face to face with the Master.

When I was in Bible College, preparing to become a pastor, there seemed to be two opposing outlooks toward the course of study we were in. Every Sunday evening I and a few other students went to a nearby retirement home and conducted worship services. Those kind folks put up with a lot of mistakes, bad speeches, clumsy attempts at preaching, poorly done music and just plain ignorance as we did our best to represent our Lord in that place. We could have easily gotten discouraged and returned to the College and our studies, but we were determined to make a difference in the life of at least one of those good folks. So we kept going back week after week, and they kept smiling and loving us, appreciating the fact that we cared enough to come even if we weren’t destined to become the next Billy Graham.

Then there were many students who took the opinion that they were at the College to prepare for the ministry, not to spend time in retirement homes. Their primary focus was in the classroom where wisdom was being dispensed with great abandon by well-meaning, and godly, men and women. Nothing and no one could pry these good folks out of their textbooks. Now, I’m not taking sides; many had legitimate reasons for not participating, a clear calling being one of them. When I left college I was still making a lot of mistakes, often speaking badly, and doing music that would make a cat cringe (we’re not all gifted in the same areas). Preparation is important, but doing is a big part of preparing. The fact is that there is work to do in the kingdom today and no excuse is good enough to warrant putting it off until a more convenient time.

God expects, and deserves, what the Old Testament writers called the “first-fruits.” What was harvested first, the very best of the wheat, barley, oats and other produce, was brought to the house of the Lord before one stalk was stored at the home of the harvester. Too often today we’re guilty of giving the dregs left at the bottom of the barrel instead of the purest offering from right off the top. Too often we’re prone to putting off until tomorrow what, if we were honest, we’d admit we have no intention of doing at all. Today is the day. Now is the time. The glory of God is the purpose. As you go into your day today, ask yourself this: