TODAY IS THE DAY

Jesus said to His disciples, "Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me.”  (Matthew 16:24 NIV)

Jesus calls us to take up a cross and die. Not someday when we take our last breath, but to die to ourselves today…

Bruce Thielemann is an author, he wrote these words, “Please don’t say anything to me about tomorrow. Tomorrow is a word the Bible does not know. The Holy Spirit’s word is “today.” The Bible says, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). And Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “For God says, ‘At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you.’ Indeed, the ‘right time’ is now. Today is the day of salvation.”

Today is the day of salvation. Don’t say tomorrow. The word is “today.” 

-- Adapted from “Not a Fan” Study by Kyle Idleman

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GOD’S FAVORITE TIME

“Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda… Here a great number of disabled people used to lie -- the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, He asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’”  (John 5:2-6 NIV)

It doesn’t matter if it’s thirty-eight years, seventy-six years, or only thirty-eight seconds. God has no time limits. He has no limits at all. But He does have a favorite time, and that time is now.

Why not ask for help now?

Maybe because you hear the voices around you saying, “Not the time.” “It’s too late.” “It’s too embarrassing.” “Just wait it out and work it out.”

Maybe one of those voices is your own. You’ve drifted too far down the creek, and now you’ve given up and you’re resigned to drifting some more. But there is no distance, no time limit, no reason at all. Jesus will come to you when you are at the end of yourself. He’ll come when you’re helpless and out of power. The man in John 5 learned that even thirty-eight years wasn’t too late…

It’s not too late, and it never has been. And there’s never been a better time, a more perfect time, than the present moment. That’s always the one in which [God] wants to meet you. 

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me: Where Real Life in the Upside-Down Ways of Jesus Begins”

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GOD’S HELP IS TIMELY

“He leads me beside still waters.”  (Psalm 23:2 NKJV)

God leads us. He tells us what we need to know when we need to know it. As another New Testament writer would affirm: “We will find grace to help us when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:16 NLT)

Listen to a different translation: “Let us therefore boldy approach the throne of our gracious God, where we may receive mercy and in His grace find timely help.” (Hebrews 4:16 NEB)

God’s help is timely. He helps us the same way a father gives plane tickets to his family. When I travel with my kids, I carry all our tickets in my satchel. When the moment comes to board the plane, I stand between the attendant and the child. As each daughter passes, I place a ticket in her hand. She, in turn, gives the ticket to the attendant. Each one receives the ticket in the nick of time.

What I do for my daughters God does for you. He places Himself between you and the need. And at the right time, He gives you the ticket…

God leads us. God will do the right thing at the right time. And what a difference that makes.

Since I know His provision is timely, I can enjoy the present [without worry.]

-- Max Lucado in “Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Meant to Bear”

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