Making Hay While The Sun Shines

Do you live with a sense of urgency as it relates to God’s timetable? Our grandparents and generations before them seemed to understand that life came with an expiration date. We don’t! Probably because life was hard, opportunities weren’t dished out on silver platters, life expectancy was significantly less than it is today, they approached life with a great deal more seriousness than we do today.

Our generation seems to fit the profile of the people Jesus described who will be living in the last days:

“The world will be at ease—banquets and parties and weddings—just as it was in Noah’s time before the sudden coming of the Flood; people wouldn’t believe what was going to happen until the Flood actually arrived and took them all away. So shall my coming be.”

In this John 9 story, Jesus heals a man born blind on the Sabbath—a real no-no in first century Jewish religious culture. As Jesus performs this miracle, serious questions are thrown his way from both the crowd of astounded onlookers as well as the angry Jewish spiritual leaders. The crowd peppers Jesus with a “stump the messiah” question: Why was this man born blind; was it his parents’ sin or his? The religious leaders’ interrogative was more dastardly: How could you do this on our holy day, the Sabbath? Never mind that a flesh and blood miracle was standing in living color before their very eyes, they wanted to know who he thought he was to “work” on a day no work was to take place.

Then in the midst of all these questions, Jesus makes this statement about carrying out the task assigned by God before time expires. It seems a bit out of the blue and disconnected until you consider the context. On the one hand, since the man had been born blind, it would have been perfectly acceptable to allow things to remain as they were. The fates had determined this man’s condition; no need to rock his boat. On the other hand, Jesus knew that performing this miracle on this day—the Sabbath—would invoke the ire of the religious rule keepers and even seal their blind hatred for him. So it would have been easier for Jesus not to do this, or to delay doing it.

But Jesus was not one to avoid conflict or to take an easy path. And in this statement, he was sending both a message and a warning. The message was that the work of God must take priority over everything else in life—religious rules, man’s time, cultural mores, people’s feelings. And the warning was that there was a limited amount of time and opportunity to carry out the work of God. Tomorrow may not come; night is falling; if we are to do the work of God, we must act as if this is our window of opportunity, because that divine window is closing.

Now that truth applied to not only Jesus, but it applies to you and me as well. Notice that Jesus said “‘we’ must do the work of the One who sent me.” As God-followers, we have been given the same two things Jesus had been given: a divine assignment and a limited amount of time. So stop underestimating the brevity of your life and the time you have to make your days count; look up and see that eternity is in view.

James 4:14-16 tells us, “You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”

James says that it is foolish and downright sinful to assume that we’ve got tomorrow. Why? Because life is unpredictable: “you don’t even know”. None of us know what is going to happen tonight much less next year: a war could start, the economy could collapse, your friends could leave you. That is not meant to frighten you, but to cause you to be more dependent on God and more serious about doing his will while you keep an eye on eternity.

Not only is life unpredictable, but James is also saying that life is brief. “You are a mist”, he says. Mist comes from the Greek word, “atmos”, which is where we get our word “atmosphere”. Your life is like fog; it rolls in at night but it burns off by noon. Who knows how long you are going to live? None of us do. I’m only one heartbeat away from eternity. Life is short; you go from highchair to wheelchair, from diapers to decay in a millisecond. As Chris Matakas said, “We rise to meet each day because there will come a time when the day will rise without us”

The point is, there are no guarantees, so don’t presume on tomorrow. For sure, plan for the future, but live like today is the last. Moses prayed, “Lord teach us to number our days aright, so that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) Wisdom would teach you to live today as if you knew tomorrow you would stand before God. And that is a great way to live.

The early Christians lived that way. They were pretty urgent about the time. They learned to order their lives by seriously seeking and then immediately living out the Lord’s. They came up with a Latin watchword to remind each other of the importance of actively keeping the Lord’s will in mind. It was Deo Volente: “If God wills.” In fact, in some periods of history, the believers would end their letters with “D.V.”, Deo Volente. Then they would respond to, “If God wills” with another phrase, “Carpe Diem: Seize the day!” What a great philosophy for living to live like Jesus lived: “If the Lord wills, I will seize the day!”

Our time is shorter than we think, so as they say, let’s “make hay while the sun shines!”

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“I have been impressed with the urgency of doing. Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do.”
(Leonardo da Vinci)

Getting To Know Jesus: What is it that God is calling you to do that you have been putting off? Telling someone that you love them or asking for their forgiveness? Volunteering to lead a ministry? Going on a missions trip? Getting counseling for an addiction? Having a difficult conversation with a loved one? Witnessing to someone you care about? Carl F.H. Henry said, “The gospel is only good news if it gets there in time.” Jesus says to you, “now is the time, night is at hand, so do the work my Father has assigned to you.” Today is the day!