I know you already have planned how fruitier, happier and more prosperous your life would be in the next decade. You have pictured yourself resting at the balcony of your mansion with your family. In your mind, less than 5 years is more than enough for you to be the new H.O.D or Managing director of your office.
You've had your marriage all perfectly figured out in the figments of your thoughts and with the way business or career is progressing, you are so sure of the most beautiful wife and intelligent kids.
At your hometown lives your parents who have been suffering and dying of hunger, pains and your care. You just want to spend more years in the city and make more money before you visit them, right?
You've planned to do a lot of good works; you have plans to visit the sick, the homeless, the imprisoned and the orphans. You want to be so kind and generous to those struggling for life on the streets. But right now, you believe you have all the time to do this and feel relaxed.
You also know you will die. Of course it's inevitable as they say, but you don't see that coming soon. So you've planned to start preparing for death from age 65. By that time you may not be able to do much or may have retired, then you can have time for God.
I will tell you bluntly what you do not know about this mentality: it makes you feel relaxed, lazy, and at the end brings the "fool" out of you. You will keep procrastinating till your time is up.
I read @smyle's The future is now ten days ago and i couldn't agree less with him when he said:
When people talk about future, they talk of something very far or something that will happen many years to come. What they fail to understand is that today was yesterday's future and tomorrow will become today and again the past!
The earlier you realise you don't own your life, the better for you. The creator has leased His "breath" to everyone free of charge but for a timeframe only He can determine. It decreases every passing moment. Every heart beat is important.
Saint Paul will continue to be a great role model for those who choose to live their lives on "per seconds" billing. He showed a great level of submission to the will of God and service to fellow men in today's bible passage from Acts:
ACTS 20:17-27
From Miletus Paul had the presbyters
of the Church at Ephesus summoned.
When they came to him, he addressed them,
"You know how I lived among you
the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia.
I served the Lord with all humility
and with the tears and trials that came to me
because of the plots of the Jews,
and I did not at all shrink from telling you
what was for your benefit,
or from teaching you in public or in your homes.
I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks
to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus.
But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem.
What will happen to me there I do not know,
except that in one city after another
the Holy Spirit has been warning me
that imprisonment and hardships await me.
Yet I consider life of no importance to me,
if only I may finish my course
and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus,
to bear witness to the Gospel of God's grace.
"But now I know that none of you
to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels
will ever see my face again.
And so I solemnly declare to you this day
that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you,
for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God."
Since rejecting satan and sin, Paul had given his life completely and unreservedly to love and service. He became so busy because there was no room for procrastination for him. Because he made every seconds count, he was able to cover many places and aspects of the Christian faith. Paul became so valuable at his time that every nation, kings and prophets respected and loved him. I perfectly agree with the assertion that: "an idle man is the devil's workshop"
The world needs you NOW to begin the good deeds. That big house, fine car, large life you hope for may not even make you happy later in life if you fail to help others. Be valuable, be responsible.
Keep in mind that the next breath is not guaranteed. Be thankful always for life and live your life in a way others will glorify God through you. Stand up now to begin what you must do not to get to where you want, but where God wants you to be.
Only God owns the timing. Be contented with the little you have at the moment and how well you've used it to glorify God. He has the perfect plan and knows the perfect time to wear the mantle.
Do not be faster than your shadow and don't ever procrastinate. Time to live the life starts now, make every heartbeat count for God, your neighbours, then yourself.
God loves you!
I'm @tomfreeman!