I Was Always Going to Get to It Tomorrow

Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 6:2

A few years ago, we bought and remodeled an older house. When I say we remodeled it, I mean we paid to have someone else do most of the work. There were several finishing touches that we took on ourselves though. We worked hard, painting the interior, putting up a backyard fence, and finishing the fireplace facade. We got 97% of our work done, but then, our ambition fizzled. We always meant to get to it, but that last 3% simply went unfinished . . . until it came time to sell, which happened to coincide with my daughter’s graduation. Then, it was a mad rush to finish while we were decorating and packing at the same time. In the end, we got it done, but the work should have been completed a couple years before, when things would have been much simpler.

There are a lot of things in life like that. I’ve been meaning to lose 20 pounds for the last five years. Before recovery, for 15 years, I intended to get sober. With my drug addiction back then, and my weight loss now, I’ve told myself the same thing. I’ll start tomorrow. When tomorrow comes though, it’s just another day of not moving. A few tomorrows add up to a thousand tomorrows and soon, years have slipped by. In my addiction, as I looked back with regret and shame, I realized I’d wasted 15 of the best years of my life on pills. Yes, I had great memories with my family, but it was all tainted by my drug use. I should have quit years before, prior to the painful consequences, but I thought I’d always have more time.

In today’s passage, Paul warns against such thinking and insisted that the time is now at hand. Today is the day of repentance, salvation, and transformation. We always think that we’ll do it tomorrow, but when tomorrow comes, we put it off another day. In doing so, days turn to years and soon, we’re left with nothing but regrets and empty promises.

If we want life to be different, Paul said we cannot wait any longer. We must choose to change while it’s still an option. In following our path, eventually we’ll create our own disaster or simply run out of days. Then, we’ll look back with sorrow that we didn’t do what it took, when we had the time, to become who God wanted us to be. Don’t look back with regret and don’t waste another day. Today is the day to turn to God and to begin to change.