If Not Now, When?

To quote the show The Chosen, "If not now, then when?"

I believe this question can be asked of so many different aspects of life. Too many times we rely on our circumstances to change before we can do something or be something. If only _____, then I'll be happy. In the new year, I will start working out. If I had more money, then I would give and donate. If I weren't so miserable, then I could be grateful and praise God.

Our actions today determine our habits tomorrow. Somebody smarter than me has definitely said that before, but I've found it to be true. If we don't start now, then will we ever? It won't get easier until we start to move our feet.

It's harder to keep my tongue in check the day after I let it run wild than it was the day before. But kind words come faster the more I choose to speak them. I try to exercise every day now, but the days I miss make the next day easier to opt out of. Before long a week goes by without exercise and I start to feel awful, yet for some reason, it always takes me some time to figure out why. The same goes for spending time with God. There are days when I'm "too tired" or "too busy" or simply want to do something else, like watch a movie, so I skip my time with God and the Word. The next day it's a little bit easier to ignore that need for His relationship, and I watch another movie instead. Gradually I spend less time with Him and feel more and more depressed. And even when I know the answer, that I need to come back and want to spend time in His presence, it's still hard to do. You see, it's the discipline that keeps us going. If we can just start now, a little bit at a time, then we will get where we want to be. But pushing it off to someday, or until something changes, won't get us anywhere. God can do miracles for us, but we have to participate in them too.

People like to talk about Paul praising in prison and how powerful that was. And his actions were powerful, there is no doubt about that. It's more faith and hope and joy than I think I could ever muster up in a bad situation, let alone before I'm locked in prison about to die. But I think the part that gets left out too often is how he got there. Paul had a lot of hardship, but before he was ever tested he had time to root his faith. It took Paul around 3 years between becoming a Christian and becoming a minister. And he has maybe 14 years or so of missing time where we don't know what he was doing. Who knows how long it took him from becoming a Christ follower to becoming one of the most influential people in history? But rest assured, he praised God and learned to grow through all of that time.

He had time to build his faith and learn to praise through smaller hardships before bigger ones came. God showed him how He shows up to develop Paul's faith to accomplish His purpose. It would be something like stubbing your toe, yet being thankful to have feeling in your legs; that gratitude muscle would build up so that after breaking your leg you would praise God that you still have your leg at all. The more practice Paul had in exercising his faith, gratitude, and praise, the more he could hold onto God and his hope. Paul was a baby Christian once too. He didn't just go from a murderer to the greatest apostle with a click of his heels. He had to start his journey with God. Imagine if Paul had never started. God would accomplish His purpose, but where would Paul be? Where might we be now?

So when I look at doing something only after ___________, and you can fill in the blank for yourself, I think about how all the excuses procrastinate my goals and my purpose day after day. If I don't make a habit of giving now, then I never will. If I don't make 15 minutes in my schedule to work out, then how can I ever dream of making time for an hour a day? If I don't sit in relationship with God now, when will I know Him? If not now, when?