Now Is The Time!

“behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” [2 Corinthians 6:2]

As cliché as it may sound, Jesus Christ is coming very soon. Against the beliefs of many, the day of the return of Jesus is fixed; it has never changed and it is not going to change. Let us view this post as a reminder of some sort. For the enemy of the souls of men, which is the devil, distraction is the name of the game. There are many who still do not believe that Jesus is Lord, many who claim to believe but are too consumed by themselves to see Him, and yet many more who have never even heard the truth about who Jesus is and what He did for them.

There is no more time for the mastered art of stalling. We cannot keep imagining that we will completely submit ourselves to God when we are done ‘enjoying’ life; it’s a form of self-deceit that will not work in these last days. Someone rightly said that if you plan to give your life to Christ right before you die, you will not truly be giving your life to Him, because at that point there is no life left in you to give. God is not a computer; He is a rational being that knows your deepest thoughts.

To the unbeliever: King David wrote in Psalm 14:1, “the fool hath said in his heart, there is no God.” A dear friend once told me that true science supports the existence of God. I could not agree more. Nobody truly needs to be convinced that God exists. Paul, a man of great knowledge [that could very well rival the most notable philosophers], made the following statement in support of the truth that all you have to do is look around you to see God: “the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made.” All the proof of the existence of God you need is all around you – in the structure of the universe, the complexity of the human body, and the vast species on the earth. “Why Jesus, or why Christianity?” you may think. There are two important reasons, one being because only Jesus died for you; only He suffered at the hands of men to take away the sin, sickness, failure, and emptiness that plague men. The second reason is that only Jesus was proved to be the Son of God with power through the resurrection from the dead. [Romans 1:4]  Accept Him into your heart today, and begin to enjoy ALL that He paid for!

To the cold believer: You may be out there and your only reason for being a Christian is that your parents raised you in the church. I dare say that you are in a very sad state, because you have not yet come in contact with reality. The religion that you have can only lead to frustration. Cold believers are more likely to find every reason to discredit the ‘on-fire-for-Jesus’ Christian. They typically want to prove the ‘we-are-all-sinners’ factor to satisfy their own confusion at why Christianity is not so real to them. When they see committed Christians, all they want to believe is that those Christians are secretly sinning. These are the carnal [fleshly or sensuous] ‘believers’ [1 Cor. 3:1]. To such person, I say “stop playing with God”. I encourage you to reassess the reason why you say you are a Christian. Get to the word of God and study it for yourself. Find out about the person of Jesus; you’ll be love-struck and awe-struck. You’ll find yourself shouting about Him more than those Christians you currently consider crazy or fanatical. Then and only then can He bring color, beauty, and meaning into your life. Seek Him now when He can be found [Isaiah 55:6]!

To the lukewarm believer: Is your current degree or obtaining a degree still more important than studying God’s Word? Is there any area of your life where you apply more zeal and show more devotion than in your walk with God or soul-winning? Jesus mentioned in Revelations 3:14-16 that this is a worse state than being cold. He also says something interesting to this category: “anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” [Rev. 3:18]; I believe He mentioned that because lukewarm Christians are the last to know that they are lukewarm. In fact, many times, they think they are committed. Let your commitment translate into a relationship with the Word of God and a desire to know God more. Even if you currently have a job that keeps you away from church meetings, you must burn in your heart with a desire to attend those meetings. The remedy to this lukewarm state is the Word of God. Get God’s Word into you and state your convictions about the gospel clearly to yourself.

To the hot believer: You are in the right place, but now is not the time to lose focus. Continually declare your consistency in the things of God with great resolve. According to Hebrews 12:2, keep your eyes on the beginner and perfecter of your faith. In these times, the desire of the enemy is to throw in more distractions than ever before. Now, those on fire for God may begin to face financial, physical, family, or career challenges; but, it is no time to faint. It is said that “nay, in all these things, we are more than conquerors” [Romans 8:37] so that you will be relaxed in every situation [Philippians 4:6]. Let’s join hands and win souls like never before. Let us pray for the unsaved everywhere. Let us talk about Jesus without shame. We have been given a mandate that the Master will ask us about; in front of that judgment seat, no medical degree, award of excellence, or any such thing counts if it did not have something to do with our destiny in God. The Master said “occupy till I come” [Luke 19:13], and that is exactly what we ought to do lest He returns and finds anyone sleeping. Occupy in your body and at your job, school, home, and community by letting your faith prevail over every negative circumstance. Be wise also, and win many to Christ [Proverbs 11:30]!

Now is the time to dust ourselves up and set our eyes on the prize. Not tomorrow or anytime in the future! Remember, today is the future of yesterday and today is creating the future of tomorrow. You may have been saying “I will do such-and-such” without actually doing it. If you don’t act TODAY, you just may be saying the same thing in fifteen years, or worse still till the Lord arrives.

I anticipate your comments with great excitement. In the mean time, enjoy this video!