The Time Is Now

What comes to mind when you hear St. Paul say that now is the acceptable time and the day of salvation? Do you wonder what gain there is in waiting or putting off your salvation? Do you consider some unfinished sins or perhaps some “in-thing” you would like to do before you commit to salvation? What if this last “in-thing” turns out to be the most dangerous thing of your life? How loud is the “just one last time” call in your mind, and can you hear God’s final call for salvation to you? There is a time, which time no one knows when; but it is a time nonetheless to receive the salvation that the Lord Jesus provided through His death for you.

There is also a line that marks each one’s destiny, which line none knows where. A line that is unseen to human eyes, but a line nonetheless that once we cross, we lose everything. And then there is the Lamb’s Book of Life (Revelation 13:8 & Revelation 21:27), a book written from the foundation of the world, which nonetheless bears the names of those who will gain entry through the gates of the New Jerusalem. In other words, there is no luxury for waiting to have some more fun or get a little older before getting serious with God. The time to take action is now.

We need to hear Solomon’s appeal to remember our creator in the days of our youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when we will have no pleasure in them (Ecclesiastes 12:1). We should spend our older days in good health and with sound minds capable of good judgement, and not waste it paying for ‘wild oats’ sowed in our youth. Tragically, many youngsters race down the path of destruction, refusing to heed warnings of impending disaster. God who is good all the time, gives them (and us) one more opportunity to receive His grace; not tomorrow, next month or next year, but today, here, and now. Some live in yesterday, mired in regret over past mistakes while others live in tomorrow, drowning in worry of upcoming challenges. But the Lord invites us to be with Him in Paradise today (Luke 23:43) because salvation is in the here and now. We should not let the past or the future rob us of present joy and peace. We must understand that God has only one timing, and that is…now!

Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2b).

What is holding you back? If you are sick, God wills to heal you now (Isaiah 57:18-19). Yet, God doesn’t heal everyone all the time. In Jesus’ time, many in His hometown of Nazareth were not healed (Matthew 13:58). On one occasion, he healed only one man out of a multitude (John 5:3-8). On another, He decided to go elsewhere to preach even though desperately sick and hurting people were looking for Him (Mark 1:38). Why? Because His mission was to bring salvation, not healing. The Apostle Paul understood this when using his gift of healing (1 Timothy 5:23 & 2 Timothy 4:20). God’s healing is not based solely on faith (John 5:13), but through salvation (Luke 5:17-26). The old decaying body we bear is promised to be replaced in heaven by a glorified one (1 Corinthians 15:50-53).

Instead of looking for healing, we should go for salvation to heal the soul, not the physical body. Now is the time for healing the soul. God blesses us with salvation now, not at some point in the future. We may have the assurance of salvation through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ here on earth, but we don’t live eternally until after we die (John 3:16). Even though Christ has gone to prepare a place for His disciples (John 14:2-3), the time to make our homes a heavenly mansion is now.

If you are looking for answers to your prayers receive them right now, not sometime in the future. Even when we do not see immediate evidence, we receive our answers when we ask.

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will (Mark 11:24).

The Lord Jesus assures us that everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it is opened. All this happens now, but we must ask according to God’s will; for if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him (1 John 5:14-15). Much as we know to persevere in prayer, we need to make the habit of thanking God even before we see the result.

If you are looking for a deep relationship with God, now is the time. St. James puts forth the invitation to draw near to God and promises that God will respond by drawing near to us. We draw near in worship, praise, and prayer; in asking counsel of God; in enjoying communion with God; in the general course and tenor of our life. Jeremiah prophesied that when we call upon Him and come and pray to Him, The Lord God will hear us. When we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him. And He will restore our fortunes and gather us from all the nations and bring us back to the place from which we were sent into exile (Jeremiah 29:12-14).

We sinners have been sprinkled with the blood of Jesus so that we can come close to God. We draw close to God so that He forgives us and saves us. But God wants to draw near us to have a close relationship and fellowship with us. Now is the time to end the exile. This drawing near to God means that now we can resist the devil, become pure, sorrow for sin, speak well of others and think more of eternal things. We cannot afford to lose the opportunity of a wonderful, close relationship with God by failing to respond to Him immediately (cf. Song of Solomon 5:2-6). We miss wonderful encounters with God because we are lazy, distracted or inconvenienced (Isaiah 55:6), yet now is the acceptable time.

If we hear His voice today, now is the time to obey (Hebrews 3:7-8). The writer warns that hardheartedness is a soul-destroying sin. To avoid this hardness of heart, we must submit our hearts to God’s Word and God’s ways, especially in times of trial. If we do not obey God now, it may be more difficult to do so later. The time to do what the Bible says we must do is now. What we need to do for our salvation must be done now. We can forgive one another from the heart. We can sincerely repent of our sins and make reparation. We can honestly bring in our tithes and support the work of the church. And we can heartfully pray for those who hurt us because the time is now. We must not postpone our intentions to follow and obey the Lord Jesus to some unknown time (Matthew 8:22-23) because we can do it right now.

If you have been putting off doing ministry work, the time is now. We can testify about the Lord Jesus and tell others about Him right now. St. Paul commands that we proclaim the salvation message and persist in favorable and unfavorable times alike, whether convenient or inconvenient, whether it is welcome or unwelcome (2 Timothy 4:2). The opportunity comes when we open our mouths and just begin to talk about Christ. When we do not use the opportunities that God gives us today to tell others about Jesus, the harvest passes, the summer goes, and we are not saved from misery (Jeremiah 8:20). The time to preach good news to the troubled world is now (Matthew 5:3).

There is no better time to rejoice in the Lord other than now. Whether we feel like it or not, whether we see it or not, this is the day of the Lord and we do not sorrow because the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:9). The time to have true joy in the Lord, knowing that God is in control, is now.

Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, Rejoice (Philippians 4:4).

We may want to give up, lie down and not get up, or cry until our tears flow no more; yet we must take a leap of faith and rejoice, praising the Lord God for who He is (Acts 16). So, when we are severely beaten up and suffering life’s experiences, we must be encouraged that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18). The time to revive is now.

The Time is Now

The time to follow Jesus with all our hearts is now. This is the time when God wants to do great things for us. This is the time when God wants to do great things through us. This is the time for truly wonderful new opportunities because the eyes of the Lord range throughout the entire earth, looking to strengthen those whose hearts are true to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9). We should not be found to have done foolishly in this so that henceforth we can only have wars. We know what time it is. Now is the moment we awake from slumber, for salvation is nearer to us now (Romans 13:11). Our sleep disposition towards God must come to an end. Episodes of spiritual sleepiness must come to an end. The time of talking about God in our sleep, hearing things in our sleep, walking in our sleep, singing in our sleep, thinking in our sleep and dreamily living the faith must end now.

The time to accept the gospel of reconciliation with God has come. The way is through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, nothing else. If we are to be heard and helped by God, the acceptable time and the day of salvation is now. In this limited-time offer, the Lord has answered, helped and preserved us on this day of salvation. He has given His only begotten Son as a covenant to us, so that we are freed from bondage and imprisonment (Isaiah 49:8). The time for us to go forth is now.

Take-Home Message

None of us can confidently claim to know what tomorrow will bring. We cannot live and make plans apart from being constantly aware that the Lord God has a hand in it. We must not underestimate our limitations, for human life is fragile, and we live and move only at the permission of God (James 4:14). Our time is limited, and eternity may begin sooner than we can imagine. When that time comes, it should not be too late to be reconciled to God. The time to put our full faith in Christ is now.

*NB: Unless specifically stated, all Bible quotations are from the NABRE Version.