Time Passes By

            Here it is, almost the end of January.  It seems like the new year just started, and yet the first month of it is almost over already.

            I guess maybe this is a sign that, much as I don’t like to recognize it, I am getting older.  All my life I’ve heard people say that the older you get, the faster time seems to pass.  I guess it’s true.  The good part of that is that winter goes by more quickly, and this winter seems to be going particularly fast because we’ve had so little bad weather.

            Still, that time goes by so quickly is a reminder to each of us that we only have so many days to live on this earth, and none of us knows when those days will come to an end.  It’s also a reminder that we should not put off too many things for too long.  We cannot do everything at once, of course, and it’s okay to have plans for the future.  On the other hand, we do not have an unlimited time to do all the things we want to do.  At some point, we need to recognize that there are some things we need to do now, or we’ll never do them at all.

            That can apply to our faith, too.  How many of us know that we should get closer to God, but decide to do it “later”?  How many of us know we should spend more time reading the Bible and praying, but decide that we just don’t have time for that right now?  How many of us would like to get more involved in something the church is doing, but decide that “it’ll just have to wait”?  How many of us have an idea for something we’d like to see the church do, but decide that “the time just isn’t right” for us to do it now?

            Again, I recognize that people have busy lives and cannot do everything at once.  We also need to recognize, though, that “later” is not promised to any one of us.  We also need to recognize that God is not served, nor are we or anyone else helped, by things that we intend to do someday.  God is only served, and we and others are only helped, by things that we actually do now.

            This may be one of things meant by the old saying that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  Maybe one of the ways Satan acts to harm is, not by getting us to change our minds about what we’d like to do, but by getting us to delay those things we “intend” to do until it’s too late.

            Let’s not put our Christian faith off until “someday”.  Let’s decide that we’re going to get closer to God and find ways to serve God now, today.  That way, we won’t have to worry about whether we’ll be able to do it tomorrow.