Indeed, the “Right Time” Is NOW!!! TODAY Is the Day of Salvation!!! (authored by Pip Whitney, Associate Minister Countryside Christian Church)
During my quiet times at camp over the past couple of weeks, I read through the book of 2 Corinthians. However, I never made it past the second verse of chapter six. Not because my quiet times petered out, but simply because I was so captivated by the first two verses of 2 Corinthians 6 that I kept reading them over and over, meditating on them and studying them. In November 2009, my article was simply 1 John chapter 3. Ahead of the article I wrote, “Sometimes I realize that everything I want to say God has already said.” This is another one of those moments. 1 Corinthians 13 refers to Godʼs completed S c r i p t u r e a s “ t h e perfect” (v10), and why t r y t o imp r o v e o n perfection? So I ask that you take some time to read this passage that has so entranced me and reflect on what it means for your life where you are at this moment.
1 CORINTHIANS 5:14-6:2 (NLT) 14 …Christʼs love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. 16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting peopleʼs sins against them. And he gave us this w o n d e r f u l m e s s a g e o f reconciliation. 20 So we are Christʼs ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. 1 As Godʼs partners, we beg you not to accept this marvelous gift of Godʼs kindness and then ignore it. 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. A few questions for you to consider:
1 )Have you received this “marvelous gift of God’s kindness”? This passage tells us that God made the sinless Christ sin itself so that our lives could be corrected. Have you accepted Godʼs grace and mercy, been “reconciled to [Him]” (v20 NIV), and had your sins washed away?
2)If you are a follower of Jesus, have you accepted the gift and then ignored it? The NIV says “receive[d] [it] in vain.” Have you taken Godʼs grace and mercy lightly? Do you view the reward for your faith as just a future home in heaven? If so, may you realize that “TODAY is the day of salvation!” (emphasis my own). Christ did not die just to give you life after death but to give you life in all its fullness TODAY! May you begin to live your life for Jesus as a blessed reward NOW and in the future.
3)Who do you know that needs to “come back to God”? Too often we think we have more time to take the Light into the dark world so we will get to it later. We have no sense of urgency about “seeking and saving the lost.” May this passage convict us that “indeed, the ʻright timeʼ is NOW!!! TODAY is the day of salvation!!!” (Again, emphasis is my own.) We are not guaranteed tomorrow or even the next second, and neither are our lost friends, family members, or coworkers. How can you be Godʼs “ambassador” to them TODAY?
His minister of reconciliation, Pip Whitney
