NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” II Corinthians 6:2
The Savior has come. Salvation has been provided for us by Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross and His resurrection. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” God wants men to be clear about this. He is ready to have mercy, to hear our prayers, and to show compassion to mankind. There is truly NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT.
We must learn to recognize and walk in the reality that God deals with us in the present. He is presently all that He has ever been. Psalm 46:1 says He is “a very present help in trouble.” It is common for some to spend too much time on the past and future, without attention to the reality of the now. For instance, many are plagued with the memory or regret of past failures or mistakes, even in cases where these sins have been confessed. Because they have a tendency to live in the past, they assume that God is likewise focused on what occurred in days gone by. However, the Bible makes it clear that when God forgives, He does not hold it against us. In Jeremiah 31:34, God says, “I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” If God is able to forget our past and concentrate on the present, we ought to attempt to do the same.
Also, the God that has worked mightily on behalf of His people in history is the same today and forever. There is nothing that God is not able to do. We limit God’s power in our lives when we think of Him in terms of being able to work wonders in the past, but think He is powerless in the present. Our faith in God is based on the sound truth that “he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). He is presently all that we need.
Another application of this lesson has to do with our future. As God’s children, our future is bright. We have been promised everlasting life in the wonder of Heaven. There we will see Him in His glory. We sing songs that refer to the victory and worship that will permeate our eternal home. As marvelous as this is, and every bit true, we cannot live in the future. God is everything now that He will be then. We do not live in the past or the future. Now is our time to live and serve, and there is NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT.