by Kevin Burton
My wife Jeannette has a saying, a phrase she uses: "Here in a minute."
This is recliner speak. She utters the phrase "here in a minute" from her favorite comfortable blue recliner. (We have matching blue recliners. I use mine mostly on NFL Sundays. She uses here year-round.)
"Here in a minute" has nothing (necessarily) to do with 60 seconds or even approximately 60 seconds. She says here in a minute, then declares one or more things she is going to do. These are things she knows she needs to do but has been putting off because they aren't perhaps thrilling or fulfilling.
Lest you think I am throwing her under the bus, I'm not saying I don't procrastinate as much as or more than she does. I do not say here in a minute not because the phrase has a vaguely southern feel to it and I try hard not to talk like that.
You could say she utters the phrase but I embody "here in a minute."
If we're talking dusting, which Jeannette usually does, or washing dishes, which I usually do, you can understand employing "here in a minute." When you go into the spiritual realm however, procrastination is not a good thing.
Today we get a "here in a minute" warning of sorts from Alistair Begg, speaker on the Truth For Life radio ministry. Begg's example of immediate obedience comes from the book of Mark.
"And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.' They immediately left their nets and followed Him" (Mark 1: 16-18 NKJV, emphasis mine).
"When they heard the call of Jesus, Simon and Andrew obeyed at once without hesitation," Begg writes. " If we did likewise and punctually, with resolute zeal put into practice what we hear immediately, then our attendance at the means of grace and our reading of good books could not fail to enrich us spiritually."
"He will not lose his loaf who has taken care to eat it immediately; neither can he be deprived of the benefit of the doctrine who has already acted upon it."
"Most readers and hearers become moved to decide to take action; but sadly, the proposal is a blossom that has not flowered, and as a result no fruit comes from it; they wait, they waver, and then they forget, until, like the ponds on frosty nights, when the sun shines by day, they are only thawed in time to be frozen again," Begg writes.
Consider: "How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep. So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man" (Prov 6: 9-11 NKJV).
"That fatal tomorrow is blood-red with the murder of good resolutions; it is the slaughterhouse of the innocents," Begg writes. "We are very concerned that our little book of 'Evening Readings' should not be fruitless, and therefore we pray that readers may not be readers only, but doers of the Word. The practice of truth is the fruit of profitable reading."
"Should the reader be impressed with any duty while perusing these pages, let him be quick to fulfill it before the holy glow has departed from his soul, and let him leave his nets and all that he has rather than be found rebellious to the Master's call," Begg writes.
"Do not give place to the devil by delay! Act while opportunity and desire are working in happy partnership."
"Do not be caught in your own nets, but break the meshes of worldliness, and go where glory calls you. Happy is the writer who will meet with readers resolved to carry out his teachings: His harvest will be a hundredfold, and his Master will have great honor," Begg writes.
"We can only pray that this might be our reward from these brief meditations and hurried hints. Grant it, O Lord, to Your servant!
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