The apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2: “We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
God’s clock always says “Now.” However, we humans tend to get stuck either living in the past or dreaming about the future. Very few of us realize that “It’s now or never.” Let’s study more about this power of “Now.”
Some people spend their whole lives living in the past. Their “Now” is continuously filled with past sins, failures, defeats, and pain. Of course, the past is just a memory, and while there are consequences to actions that we have taken in the past, there is no reason to relive the pain and mistakes of the past.
Have you ever talked with someone about the gospel and they say, “God can’t save me because I’ve sinned too much or too badly …” You’ve just met a person who is living in the past. But the Bible says that your past doesn’t have to become your future. You can change. Ezekiel 18:21-23 says, “But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?"
The New Testament teaches, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17). When a person is baptized into Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection they come out a new, forgiven, justified, cleansed person (Romans 6:3-11; Galatians 3:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11). A faithful Christian who continues to confess their sins and seek the Lord is promised the continued cleansing of the blood (1 John 1:5-10). Imagine the freedom, the power, of letting go of your past in God’s forgiveness through Christ’s blood.
Some people spend their whole lives dreaming about the future. Now I understand that a Christian has the hope of heaven (Colossians 1:3-5, 1 Peter 1:3-9), but this hope teaches “… us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age” (Titus 2:12). We have no hope of living with Him in the “there and then” if we are not living for Him in the “here and now.” Let’s look at some Biblical examples of people who were trying to live in the future.
In Exodus 8:1-15 there is the record of the plague of frogs that God sent against Egypt. These slimy, stinky frogs were everywhere–in the house, in their beds, in the kitchen, in their food. Moses gave Pharaoh the honor of deciding when the frogs would be taken away from Egypt. In verse 10 Pharaoh gives the incredible answer, “Tomorrow”! How would you like to explain that to Mrs. Pharaoh? “Honey, Moses let me choose when to get rid of the frogs so I decided we’d spend one more night with them.”
How many times have we decided to stay one more night with the frogs? Tomorrow I’ll give up my sin. Tomorrow I’ll change. Tomorrow I’ll obey the gospel. Tomorrow I’ll start praying. There is no tomorrow, for there never is a time when it is not now. Like Pharoah, thinking about tomorrow stops you from changing today.
In the New Testament, we read about a man named Felix who with his wife heard the apostle Paul, “… concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. As he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified and answered, ‘Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.'” (Acts 24:24-25). In verse 27 we read that two years passed, and Felix was replaced with Porcius Festus but left Paul in bonds.
How many of us have been looking for a more convenient time to do things? I can’t really serve the Lord right now, I’m busy with work/kids/fishing/sinning, you fill in the list. We tell ourselves that now isn’t really the best time for me to change. I can always find some time out in the future that I will be strong/praying/spiritual/studying, etc. What we fail to realize is that the only time we can be these things is now.
The key point we need to see is that it is what we are doing now that determines our past and our future.
This is why God tells us that now is the acceptable time, now is the day of salvation. “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3:12-15). Our Christian life is a moment to moment decision to live for Christ today.
If you’re not a Christian today why not obey the gospel of Christ (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Romans 6:3-4). Your past can be forgiven, you can become new. If not now, when? Christian, as long as it’s called “today” live for Christ.
Kevin Huddleston
