| 1 Timothy 1:16 – ‘However for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.’ |
This is a very cool verse! Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t just go ahead and ‘zap’ certain people who are a general nuisance to society? Murderers, rapists, thieves, habitual liars, adulterers; you know the list of what we consider to be the worst of the worst. Paul, who wrote this, had plenty of blood on his hands. He says that he was the worst of sinners. But God didn’t ‘take him out’ during his worst behavior! God showed mercy to Paul by waiting and waiting and waiting a little bit more for him to come around to believing that Jesus spoke the truth about eternal life. Jesus waited for Paul and He waits for us! He knows who is going to eventually come around and He is patient with us!
I find the above super comforting. But there are downsides to our procrastination. The longer we wait the more time we are without amazing gifts from the Holy Spirit! We will miss out time we could have spent building eternal rewards! The biggest concern is that only God knows if we will procrastinate as long as we are alive. Personally, I don’t want to take that chance. Tomorrow is not promised to any of us and eternity is a very long time. It isn’t worth the risk of losing.
If we are alive, there is hope! Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
There’s no time like the present for locking in that surety of everlasting life!
- Vicki Rance
