Planning: Do the Right Thing Today

Chuckle: "Americans are getting stronger. Twenty years ago, it took two people to carry ten dollars worth of groceries. Today, a five-year old can do it."

Quote: "Our motivation is worth ten threats, two pressures, and six reminders." -- Paul Sweeney

As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" (James 4:16-17 NIV).

Do you neglect or procrastinate doing what you know God wants you to do? God tells us, through James, that we sin when we fail to do something good we know God would have us do. There are sins we "commit," and there are sins when we "omit" -- sins of commission and sins of omission. Failing to do something good for someone, or procrastinating, are sins of omission. An unknown poet wrote: "procrastination is my sin, it causes me great sorrow. I know I ought to change my ways, and I will, tomorrow." Here's another thought: "Procrastination is the assassination of motivation."

The Bible says that Christianity is not just a life of not doing certain things but a life filled with doing the things God wants us to do. To fail in life, just do nothing -- just do nothing to strengthen your marriage or to teach your children. The solution is doing something now. Write a letter to someone; write your parents; call your best friend and tell him/her what a difference he/she makes in your life; restore a fractured relationship with a friend or neighbor; get right with Christ today; join a church today; get your marriage right today; forgive others today. Not tomorrow!

A pastor put it this way. "I don't know anyone who got married tomorrow. I don't know anyone who died tomorrow. I don' know anyone who sinned tomorrow. I don't know anyone who made a difference tomorrow. I don't know a life that was ever changed tomorrow." That's why God said: "Now is the accepted time; today is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2). Every day we have choices. God puts your life in your hands and says: "it's yours - you can do with it as you wish." You can waste it with drugs, alcohol, or selfish pleasures; or you can invest it in the things that really matter here on earth and in eternity. When you invest your life, you find it; when you invest it, God multiplies it. No matter if you live to be 20, 30, or 90, your life can make a difference today.

You may have seen the movie, "Point of the Spear." It is the story of missionary Jim Elliott and others who were killed by savage Indians in a foreign country as they were sharing the gospel of Christ. Jim had written in his diary a few days before his death: "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep for that which he cannot lose." Today, many of those Indians are Christians. He paved the way with his life. He said, "I'm not going to wait on tomorrow - I'll make a difference today."

Love, Jerry & Dotse