Quotable: The written word

The written word
Should be as clean as a bone,
Clear as light,
Firm as stone.
Two words are not
as good as one.

~ Kathryn Lindskoog

The Gospel's Urgent Call

“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Cor. 6:2b

            We returned to Colorado a little over a week ago.  The route we took is our favorite between northwest Iowa and Loveland: Highways 44 and 18 across beautiful South Dakota, through Rosebud Indian Reservation, to the high plains of western Nebraska and southern Wyoming.  Not a lot of people live along that route, nor do many people travel there.  There aren’t many restaurants or designated rest areas, either.  Right in the middle of those vast, beautiful spaces, my husband and I heard a little voice from the back seat: “I have to go to the bathroom.”  And as icy, snow-packed mile after mile crawled by, the need to find a bathroom (and the voice in the back seat) became more and more urgent.

            You and I often fail to properly rank things according to their importance and their urgency.  I think that’s especially true of our generation, for we enjoy incredible prosperity and consequently – believe it or not – an unsurpassed amount of leisure time.  A text message, telephone call, and conversation with a Christian friend could all be important.  But when that text message comes in the middle of studying for an exam, studying for the exam is more important, and more urgent.  When the telephone rings during family devotions, devotions are more important, and more urgent.  If the conversation with a friend comes at the cost of delaying the discipline of your whiny or temper-tantrum-throwing child, you’ve judged incorrectly regarding which important thing was more urgent.  And, sadly, you and I are often guilty of taking things that don’t even belong on the “important” list and making them urgent.  We sin when neglect to do those things that are truly urgent immediately, for God calls us to steward our time for his glory.

            It’s as if the year 2014 is one of those South Dakota bluffs that overlook the great Missouri.  2015 stretches out like the Great Plains to the East.  And there is one voice that is more urgent than all the others: that voice is the gospel’s urgent call.  Don’t let that voice remain in the backseat.

            To you who are unconverted, the call of the gospel is the command to repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ.  He is the only one who can save you from the wrath of God in this life and in the life to come.  To you who are converted, it is the call to daily repent of your sins and trust in Christ’s righteousness.  Legalism does not merit with God.  Nor have you been saved to carnal license.  You now live in the liberty of the Spirit: you’ve been freed to serve God.

            There are certain disciplines we must exercise if we are to treat that gospel call with its proper urgency.  We must attend the preaching of the gospel.  We must study the Scriptures.  We must be constant and fervent in prayer.  We must do these things today, and every day.  They are urgent, for you and I know not what may be on the morrow.  “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Is. 55:6-7).

           So heed the gospel’s call today when you’re tempted to open Facebook before you’ve opened your Bible.  Remember the freedom to which you’ve been saved when you’re tempted to use a sharp tongue.  Hit your knees before you hit the sack.  Redeem every moment of the time you’ve been given, for the days are evil.

          And resist the temptation to make those things urgent which aren’t even important at all.