We Shall Have No Time Like the Present

Charles Spurgeon:

The past is gone; the future has not arrived; we never shall have any time but time present. Then do not wait until your experience has ripened into maturity before you attempt to serve God. Endeavour now to bring forth fruit. Serve God now, but be careful as to the way in which you perform what you find to do--"do it with thy might." Do it promptly; do not fritter away your life in thinking of what you intend to do to-morrow as if that could recompense for the idleness of today. No man ever served God by doing things to-morrow. If we honour Christ and are blessed, it is by the things which we do today. 

I am home from a stupendous four days with my family in Richmond. All but my oldest son showed up. My middle son and daughter-in-law put on an impressive hosting of Thanksgiving for the first time. It was an ambitious project between both of their families being invited. Thirteen  people. As far as I could tell, not one angry word was spoken and not one moment of tension. That is rare under any circumstances.

I was always awake long before the group in our Airbnb, as was Ragnar, my daughter’s dog. It was bitter cold in the mornings, with a layer of ice on the shallow water along the shoreline of the James River. Nonetheless, Ragnar and I bundled up and ventured out, braving the cold to indulge in the magnificence of God’s creation. 

We saw almost no other people in those early chilled hours. We walked six to eight miles each morning, meandering along rock strewn trails while the James River gurgled and surged beside our paths. It was a beautiful setting for prayer and worship to the One who created all this beauty. 

I could have stayed in my nice warm bed, or settled in the kitchen with a mug of hot coffee in my palms. I was tempted, particularly since my Achilles’ tendon has been bothering me. However, I felt the nudge of God. Today is what you have. I cannot always promise you a gurgling James River or legs that will still carry you safely on rocky paths, or an energetic dog who can match your energy (and more.) I can promise you today, this moment. Seize it.

This morning, home again and enjoying the Sabbath rest, I awoke to an email about a battered woman who needs help. I settled immediately into researching the resources in her area. I will call her later today to encourage and offer assistance. She left the abortion center apparently Saturday but didn’t stop to tell our Cities4Life team she simply could not go through with the abortion. She had been warned if she stopped, she would be issued a ticket.

So, fortunately, she had stopped on the way in before that threat and received the name and number of one of our team members to call if she needed help. She needed help desperately, and would NOT have received it if the pro-choice folks had their way. These are the people who claim to be trusting and helping women?

It is Sunday, and I am tired. However, next to the email about the battered woman who needs help was my morning devotional with Charles Spurgeon. The quote at the top of the blog exhorted me. Christ’s call extends for TODAY. If there is work to be done on behalf of the Lord, do it now. You may not have tomorrow.

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James 4:13-15 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Matthew 6:34 

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Hebrews 3:7 

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,