Today & Tomorrow

~ Do You Know Whose Terms They Are? ~

Background  ~  (1) In one sense yesterday, today, and tomorrow are all God’s terms.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrew 13:8).  (2) In a different sense none of these terms are Gods terms since He is eternal—there is no time, as we understand it, with God.  (3) There is a third concept that is important to recognize; “today” is God’s word while “tomorrow” is Satan’s word. 

Amplification  ~  Satan seeks to have us procrastinate on eternal matters!  First, this is absolutely true regarding salvation for those who don’t believe—he desperately seeks to keep individuals from seeking truth [Jesus Christ].  Second, he strives hard to have Christians procrastinate in all aspects of obedience to Jesus Christ. 

On the other hand now is God’s word.  “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).  “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, and saw My works forty years.  Therefore I was angry with that generation, and said, “They always go astray in their heart, and they have not known My ways.”  So I swore in My wrath, “They shall not enter My rest.”’  Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion’” (Hebrews 3:7-15).  “Again He designates a certain day, saying in David, ‘Today,’ after such a long time, as it has been said: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’” (Hebrews 4:7). 

Quotation  ~  Between God’s command and our obedience is the wasteland of Satan.  When we hear what God tells us to do, we should say, “I will obey today.”  If we don’t say that, we will hear “tomorrow” ringing in our ears.  And one of those days our tomorrow will be gone!

When D.L. Moody first started to preach the Gospel in Chicago, he would say at the end of each service, “I want you to go home tonight and think about what I’ve said and come back tomorrow night ready to make a decision.”  For years that was his standard procedure.

On the night of the Great Chicago Fire, he gave the same instruction.  And many of the people who were in his congregation that night perished in the fire, never having responded to Moody’s message. 

From that day until he died, Moody never gain said those closing words.  He learned the power of today.  He realized that the message of the Gospel usually comes home to our hearts when we first hear it.  Maybe a light goes on.  Maybe we realized, I’ve known about Jesus, but I’ve never trusted Him as my Savior.  When that happens and you know God is speaking to you, the time to do something about it is not tomorrow, not the next time you meet with God’s people, but today.   ~ I Never Thought I’d See the Day! – Culture at the Crossroads, Dr. David Jeremiah, page 89. 

Application  ~  (1) For Christians:  Is your Christianity ancient history or current events? 

(2) For those who do not know Jesus Christ personally:  How about today?  You may not be given any tomorrows!  “Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:6-7). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .

Ideal Man

~ The I.D.E.A.L. M.A.N. Acrostic ~

There has been much spoken and written about in Christian circles in recent years trying to describe the ideal man.  Here is my acronym for a Godly man. 

Initiator  ~  God is an initiator!  Think creation.  Think the plan of salvation and the Cross of Calvary.  God is an initiator and we are created “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27, 9:6).  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, bears the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4).  The Christian life is a time of being increasingly conformed to the image of Christ.  “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18). 

Doer of the Word (knows and applies Doctrine)  ~  “Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.  But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22-25). 

Exhorter, Encourager, and Engager (God’s witness on earth)  ~  “Preach the word!  Be ready in season and out of season.  Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2).  “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’  Amen” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Able and Apt To Teach Others (spiritually Alive and Active)  ~  “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the Truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:24-26). 

Life-Long Learner (a disciple)  ~  A disciple is one who studies and learns from another.  Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:29-30). 

Motivated  ~  “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.  All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:31-32).  “All will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead” (1 Peter 4:5).  “For God says: ‘In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you.’  Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).  “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.  But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:18-19).  Jesus said, “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work” (John 9:4).  “And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3).

Authoritative (based on God’s word)  ~  “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.  Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority.  Let no one despise you” (Titus 2:11-15). 

Mature  ~  “Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:8-10).  

“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). 

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

NOTES:

(1)     The current TOP 10 ALN posts are listed at the very bottom of this home page.

(2)     There is an INDEX of all ALN posts accessed by scrolling down the left column.

(3)     You may LINK to any ALN posts on your own blog or website. 

(4)     You may COPY any ALN post, but please credit ALN as the source by prominently displaying the following statement:  Reprinted from “Abundant Life Now,” a free blog which offers inspiring moments, thought-provoking comments, and solid Biblical insight at http://RobertLloydRussell.blogspot.com/ .