“Why put off until tomorrow what you can do today?”

This has been a common proverb, and frequently attributed to a variety of authors. Yet perhaps the earliest known occurrence–at least that I know of–is found in the Old Testament of the Bible, in (what else) the book of Proverbs:

“Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.” -Proverbs 3:27-28

Basically what it is saying, is that if you have an obligation or some good thing that you are able to give or bestow upon your neighbor today, don’t delay or put it off until tomorrow.

More and more often in life, I’m finding that God wants for us to make full use of each day, and to live thoroughly. By “live thoroughly,” I mean that God doesn’t want us to overlook all of the small details and untied ends of life, just skipping ahead to what we deem is important.

If we have unfinished business, I believe that God wants us to live thoroughly and make sure to tie up all loose ends before proceeding too far ahead of Him on life’s path. He is back waiting for us to clean up the bits of moral untidiness that we’ve left in our path.

“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” -Matthew 5:23-24

“Wickedness may prosper for a while.” -L’Estrange

But only for “a while.” In the long term, wickedness is always overthrown. Just as the drug addict may start off with pleasant highs, there is no long term satisfaction. We must either turn to something else, or ultimately be consumed or destroyed by our sins.

Moses saw that the joy from wickedness was only for a short time, and chose to turn from it and make a life-changing decision. The Bible says that Moses:

“Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;” -Hebrews 11:25

Notice the Bible does admit that there are pleasure of sin–but they’re only for a season. They are only temporary.

In Psalm 73, the psalmist writes and takes note of this phenomenon. He begins in sorrow and disappointment, because it appears as though the wicked are rejoicing and going unpunished. They seem to be having all the fun, with nothing to stop them from continuing on. The psalmist struggles with this seemingly unjust existence, and then comes to a significant revelation that we can all learn from:

“When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.” -Psalm 73:16-19

“The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” -Psalm 145:15-16

When David says, “the eyes of all wait upon thee…” he was referring to all creatures, both man and beast: everyone–either directly or indirectly–looks to God for their provision.

And consider how marvelously God provides for all creatures, starting with plants and animals: for thousands of years, this delicate balance of life has been sustained by God’s hand.

He sends the rains to nourish the plants, and the sunshine to help them grow.

For the animals, God gives them all food from His vast bank of resources: there is no “supermarket” for the animals to go to, they are all fed by the fore-planning and goodness of God.

Also, beyond food, God commanded the animals to reproduce, and he provides the mates for all living creatures. Since it is God’s will that they multiply, He is also responsible for providing the means for them to do so. “And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth” (Genesis 1:22).

From God’s hand, the needs of every creature on earth are met. As the psalmist has said in the verses above, “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:16).

And if it is so with the animals, how much more will God satisfy our needs, being the very children of God? Yet, it is all in God’s timing, and His will.

The lamb, if he is meant to feed during the day, does not get up during the night and say, “I’m hungry now! I will not wait until the day, I’ll eat what I want, when I want.” Neither would an obviously young and immature animal be expected to mate and reproduce at such an early age. But in all things, God knows the very best for everything and everyone.

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” -Matthew 6:26

Yet the only addendum to all of this is that when God truly does give us something, it is also our responsibility to go out and get it. While it’s true that we are to have patience and wait upon God, it’s also true that when the time does come, we are to do our own part with God.

“That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.” -Psalm 104:28

“The grand question of life is, Is my name written in heaven?” -D.L. Moody

That is to say: is your name written in the book of life? God has a list of everyone that is going to spend eternity with Him in heaven, and in the Bible it’s referred to as the “book of life.”

The Bible talks about the last judgment, when all souls will appear before God, and how He will judge them out of His book: the book of life.

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.” -Revelation 20:11-12

And in this last judgment, everyone who has their name written in the book of life gets to spend eternity with God in heaven. Yet there is a grave consequence for those whose names are missing from the book of life:

“And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” -Revelation 20:15

This place called “the lake of fire,” is very bad. Certainly no one in their right mind would ever want to go there. You might say that it is even worse than hell: for even hell is to be thrown into the lake of fire in the last judgment. “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death” (Revelation 20:14). It’s a bit like jumping from the frying pan to the fire.

How we can have our names written in God’s book of life

The way to get our names written in God’s book of life is simple: call upon Him for your salvation. That is, recognize that you have need of a savior, and that because of your sins, you deserve to be cast into the lake of fire.

Then, consider what Jesus Christ has done for you on the cross, taking your place, and dying a sinless death as God’s Son.

Finally, call upon the name of Jesus in prayer, asking Him to save you from the penalty of your sins, and from the wrath which is to come.

“And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” -Acts 2:21

I have also written my own personal testimony of how I came to find faith in Jesus Christ. You can read it to get more details, and hopefully a better understanding of the gospel.

Once we’ve called upon Jesus Christ for salvation, we receive the Holy Ghost, who lives and dwells within our hearts. This is one of the ways that we have assurance that God has written our names in His book of life. The Bible sometimes describes the work of the Holy Spirit as the One who “seals” us until that last day. So when we are born again, God’s Spirit seals us for heaven until that last judgment when it is finally made official.

“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.” -Ephesians 1:12-14

“Underneath all the arches of Scripture history, throughout the whole grand temple of the Scriptures, these two voices ever echo, man is ruined, man is redeemed.” -Cyrus David Foss

It has sometimes been called: the unfolding drama of human redemption; the Bible details both the fall and salvation of mankind. Man is ruined, man is redeemed.

In the beginning, we see Adam and Eve in the garden, at the cusp of eating of fruit of the tree of life. Yet, they are deceived, and eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Mankind falls into terrible sin, and is driven from the garden of Eden.

From the third chapter of Genesis, when man falls, we do not see or hear of the tree of life until the very last book of the Bible, in Revelation chapter two, and again in chapter twenty-two.

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” -Revelation 2:7

And from start to finish, from Genesis to Revelation, there is an enormous struggle for man to find this eternal life that he once briefly held in his hand in the garden of Eden. There is a terrible yearning and heartache as man searches for the elusive rights to life—everlasting life—that life that God once freely extended to him, but now has become so obscure through sin and wickedness.

And yet now in these last times, God’s Son has been manifested to make the path of eternal life clear once again. Jesus Christ has come to overcome our sin, and reconnect us with the life of God that Adam and Eve possessed in the Garden for such a brief and fleeting space of time. Through the cross of Christ, we now have access to the redemption that God has made freely available to all: that we might have a happy ending to the storybook of human redemption.

“For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” -1 Corinthians 15:21-22

“Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.” -Psalm 119:136

We’ve all heard the expression, “cry me a river,” and here in the 119th Psalm is perhaps one of the earliest instances of it. The psalmist had grown so close to God, that he is utterly grieved and deeply laments when God’s people do not keep the law of their Lord.

He is deeply hurt, and shares in God’s pain. The psalmist knows the consequences for disobedience, and as a result, rivers of water stream down from his eyes. For perhaps he recalls the somber warning given by God in times past:

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live: That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.” -Deuteronomy 30:19-20

When considering the emptiness of sin, and how deceptive it can be, the psalmist poured out streams of tears for God’s people. Not only were they turning their backs on the God that made and redeemed them, but they were then choosing out idols and false gods to serve.

“O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” -Psalm 119:97

The psalmist loved God’s law so intensely, and had been drawn so near unto God, and was so familiar with His own heart, that it grieved him to see the people sin. It hurt him so deeply to see the people breaking God’s commandments: bringing hurt and confusion to their lives, when they ought to have trusted in God’s precepts, and had life and health.

“I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word.” -Psalm 119:158

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” -Psalm 119:71

Here’s a very honest admission from the psalmist: he actually admits to something that we humans have a difficult time acknowledging: it was good for him that God afflicted him.

And shortly thereafter, he admits yet again, “I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me” (Psalm 119:75).

As much as we hate to admit, we ought to recognize that God brings trials and troubles into our lives to teach us a lesson: and He ultimately brings them for goodness.

“My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” -Proverbs 3:11-12