A warning from J.C. Ryle in Thoughts for Young Men:
Tomorrow is the devil’s day, but today is God’s. Satan cares not how spiritual your intentions may be, and how holy your resolutions, if only they are fixed for tomorrow. Oh, give not place to the devil in this matter! Answer him, “No, Satan! It shall be today, today.”
Great Intentions
When Ryle wrote this, he was urging young men towards repentance, salvation, and devotion to God.
But his words can be an equally strong warning to any believer in any pursuit.
It doesn’t matter the worthiness of your goal, the sincerity of your intentions, or the power of your desires. If you seem to always be intent on starting tomorrow, take a second to reflect.
Our cunning opponent doesn’t have to disable us by brute force. He doesn’t need to strike us hard enough to render us incapable of doing anything. He just has to tempt us to delay and delay and delay some more.
Great intentions give us something to cling to. We point to our plans and convince ourselves: We’re OK. We’re good people. Really, we are. We’re just busy.
But God is calling us to action. Today. For his sake and yours, don’t delay.
Photo Credit: Uqbar is back (Creative Commons)
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links. However, this doesn’t affect what I write about, what I choose to say, or what I recommend. Learn more here.