What a Difference a Day Makes!

By Bill Brandstatter       My birthday is March 2nd. You may be reading this before or after that day. It causes me to think about life and my status with God. The reflections cause me to look backward and forward. I have realized daily the expression “time flies.” The writer James told of life and stated, “It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14 NKJV) Reflection is good for the soul. It causes us to look at where we are and where we ought to be. The Psalmist stated regarding life, “For it is soon cut off, and we fly away.” (Psa. 90:10)     Where have I been? My past life is gone. The present is now. Whatever mistakes I made in the past I need to forget and move on. The apostle Paul had to remind himself to do that. He stated he was “forgetting those things which were behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Phil.3:13). I can’t change the past. I can make the present better.     Where am I now? God is concerned about where we are now. The urgency of the moment is expressed in several Bible passages. Paul wrote, “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). We should be “redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:16).     Where will I be in the future? I don’t know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. The best way to prepare for the future is to prepare now. The future happens with the dawn of every new day. As one person stated, “Today is the start of the rest of your life.” My entrance into heaven depends on what I do while here on earth. I have the chance now to do what I must to enter heaven one day. What a difference a day can make. We must obey Jesus today, so that we can see Him tomorrow. (Mark 16:16; Heb. 5:8, 9)

- Bill Brandstatter preaches for the Marion Church of Christ in Marion, IL. He may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://marionchurchofchrist.com/