(Adapted from an Article by J. C. Ryle)
Dear Reader,
Perhaps one day you mean to seek God. Perhaps one day you even hope to be a really serious Christian. But when is this to be? Again I say – When?
Are you waiting till you are sick? Surely you will not tell me that this is a convenient season. When your body is wracked with pain, when your mind is distracted with all kinds of anxious thoughts, when calm reflection is almost impossible - is this a time for beginning the mighty work of acquaintance with God?
Are you waiting till you have time? And when do you expect to have more time than you do now? Every year you live seems shorter than the last: you find more to think of, or to do, and less power and opportunity to do it. And after all, you do not know whether you may live to see another year. Do not boast of tomorrow – now is the time!
Are you waiting till you are old? Surely you have not considered what you say. You will seek God or serve Christ when your body is worn out and decayed? And your hands unfit to work? You will go to Him when your mind is weak and your memory failing? You will give up the world when you cannot even keep it? Is this your plan? Beware, lest you trifle with God.
Are you waiting till your soul is perfectly fit and ready? That will never be. It will always be corrupt and sinful. You will never make it like a pure white sheet of paper that you can take to Jesus and say, “Here I am, Lord, ready to have Thy law written on my heart.” Do not delay, but begin as you are.
Take the advice I give you. Resolve this day to wait no longer. Begin at once to seek God. Repent of your sins. Believe in Christ and be saved. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
(Bishop J. C. Ryle)
Have those words of good Bishop Ryle touched on your excuses? The mind of man is full of ingenuity and brings out excuse after excuse; however, as Ryle shows, the most common excuse is “I am waiting until – –." My friend, it is the devil who teaches that you have plenty of time to repent of your sins, and that you can carry on waiting for you have plenty of time to repent sin.
When as a child I laughed and wept – time crept
When as a youth I dreamed and talked – time walked.
When I became a full-grown man – time ran
And later as I older grew – time flew.
Soon I shall find while travelling on – time gone.
(C.H. Spurgeon)