Tony Elder, Author/Pastor

After my eye doctor’s office closed a while back, I had been intending for some time to find a new ophthalmologist. Even after having one recommended to me by a church member recently, I still hadn’t made the phone call to set it up. Then one day I suddenly noticed some unusual activity in my right eye. I was experiencing occasional streaks or flashes of light, along with a couple of those distracting “floaters”. A little research revealed that those could be symptoms of a torn or detached retina. That prospect motivated me to make the contact with the ophthalmologist that I had been putting off. When they heard my symptoms, they also sounded somewhat concerned and scheduled an appointment for the same day. Thankfully, it turned out not to be anything serious but just one of the typical incidents that can occur as we get older.

That is often how we deal with certain issues in our lives. We may be aware of a need but procrastinate about taking any action until there is a crisis. We tend to do the same thing in connection with spiritual needs and our relationship with God. We know, even if we have pushed it back to the far corner of our mind, that spiritual issues exist which need our attention. We often try to ignore it or forget about it. We assure ourselves that one day soon we will call on God or take whatever step may be required in order to start getting the matter resolved. But we keep waiting, making excuses, and holding off on taking action. However, then a crisis occurs. Maybe it involves sickness, a financial setback, the death of a loved one, or some other difficult or unexpected challenge. It might not even be solely a personal crisis, but an incident that affects our whole society, nation, or world in general – a pandemic, a war, an economic crisis. Suddenly we get motivated to reach out to God. We attend that church service we had been avoiding. We voice the prayer we should have said long before now. We start thinking more about eternity and about the condition of our souls.

On the one hand, it is good to take those actions when we are faced with an emergency, a sudden hardship, or some unexpected turning point in life. Maybe God is using that experience to shake us up and get us moving. However, we need to make sure that we are not just voicing “foxhole prayers” or taking insincere actions that we will forget about as soon as the crisis is over. I have witnessed too many incidents of people seeking God and His help with their problem only to forsake Him again when the issue gets resolved.

The best course of action is not to wait for the crisis before doing what needs to be done, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (II Corinthians 6:2). If we haven’t trusted Jesus as our Savior, receiving the forgiveness of our sins and the gift of eternal life, we shouldn’t risk putting that off another day. There is too much at stake, including our eternal destiny. However, even believers need to take this word of caution to heart. Let’s not ignore God when He is calling us to some step of obedience in following Him. Don’t keep putting it off. There are times to pray and wait for God’s direction and timing. But there are also times to act now and move forward in faith.

Let’s not wait for a crisis to give us the needed kick in the pants to get going. Let’s take whatever step we need to take today in following Jesus and His will for us.