“Time is of the Essence”

 

Yesterday we talked about the "H" in Kyle Idleman's book “AHA”.  The H is for honesty and the last A is for "Action".  Many of us identify our problems, we are honest with ourselves about them, but we do nothing about it.  We must take action to make a positive change in our life.  The longer we put off making that change, the harder it is to change, and the deeper we go into that sin.  We all tend to push the limits.  If the speed limit is 65, we feel like that law enforcement will allow us to go 70, so we do.  We want to know how close we can get to the cliff before we fall off.  We want to know how close to "sin" we can get before we actually commit the sin.  This is primarily because our heart is not right.   Matt recently made an excellent point in his lesson about our attendance at church on Sunday night.  We have all heard people say "Well we really don't have to go to church on Sunday Evening or Wednesday bible study, the bible just says to worship on Sunday. Why is this up for debate? There will be some times when we can't be there on those times, but if we are just checking a box, our heart isn't right anyway.  The time to get our heart right is the minute we see it wavering. It is much easier to change a soft heart, before it gets so hardened by being accustomed to sin, being bitter, or having evil desires.  The longer we put this off, the harder it is to do.

 

We see many biblical examples of people changing their lives. In every instance that I can recall, the change was immediate.  We see immediate changes in Paul when he was struck down on the road to Damascus, we see the Eunuch be baptized immediately after Philip taught him, and we see Jonah immediately do the right thing after escaping the Whale.  We can go on and on.  Today, let’s think about what we need to change to live an excellent life and do something today to make that change.  First, ask God to help you change. At the end of the day, when you see that you were successful, thank God and resolve to do the same tomorrow. It is a process that we work on every day, and don't let it overwhelm you.  Change comes gradually, but the action to result in permanent change happens every day, one day at a time.