2 Corinthians 6:2 For he says, “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

James 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

If you have not placed your faith in Christ, now is the time to repent and seek forgiveness for the sinful life you have led without His guidance. We cannot count on tomorrow, it is not promised.

You might not live to finish this sentence. For your sake I hope you can survive long enough to turn to God who is calling us all into His glorious hope.

Romans 8:18-23 English Standard Version

Future Glory

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

God loves His creation and it is His hope that we will return His love. If you have not known the love of God, now is the time to discover His love. 

1 John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

If you don’t want to be loved, then I cannot help you.

Romans 8 English Standard Version

Life in the Spirit

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

Therefore is a great way to begin the answer to a previous question. When I wrote yesterday’s offering, I knew the followup should be these words in Romans 8. When they were written they were the answer to a different question. Romans 7:24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

When we are born we have a sentence of death waiting over our heads. None of us will escape that sentence. Ecclesiastes 3:2 “a time to be born, and a time to die;” unless we are so lucky to live long enough to see a promise 1 Thessalonians 4:17 “Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”

I have no expectation of living that long. What I have is now. Look to Romans 8:1 and see that the word immediately following therefore is now. This life we live with the Lord began with our being born again. We have a life with Christ now and it never ends. John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, that means we live together in the here and now.”

This life in faith is granted to us because we believe in the atoning works of Jesus Christ on the cross and have placed our faith in Him. He sent the Holy Spirit as the active agent for this life by which all His promises become Yes and Amen.

2 Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Romans 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Therefore NOW.