II Cor. 6:2 ... "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation."
Throughout the New Testament the announcement is emphatically made that a unique day is coming when God will summon all people before Him to give an account of the way they conducted their lives. The criterion of judgment will be the standard of God's will, which He revealed through selected men and commissioned to be taught to every person in every generation, (Mat. 28:19-20). This standard defines good and evil, educates people to distinguish between the two, and urges them to choose the good and reject the evil. As humans we are, even at our wisest and strongest, still basically ignorant and weak creatures. We continually "sin and fall short of the glory of God," (Rom. 3:23); and "if we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us," (I Jno. 1:8). If we take this sin with us into death, it shall also come with us into the Judgment, where it shall bring down upon us the eternal punishment of God.
When a person has fallen through thin ice into a lake, it is too late for him to save himself from the dreadful results of drowning in freezing water. The time to be saved was before he walked out on the ice, when he could have chosen a different path that would sustain him. When a motorist is plunging off a cliff after failing at high speed to negotiate a mountain curve, it is too late to save himself from the fiery impact at the bottom. The time to be saved was before he approached the curve, when he could have slowed down and kept traction on the road. When someone has engaged in promiscuous activity and contracted AIDS, it is too late to save himself from the terrible consequences of the disease. The time to be saved was before the AIDS virus entered his body, when he could have practiced abstinence.
It is easy to understand situations like the three just described, where a person can take action soon enough to avert destruction of life and health. We count those foolish who disregard warning signals, continue heedlessly into a danger zone, and then pay the ultimate price. We are told in Pro. 22:3 (NIV) that "a prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it." If we transfer this concern into the spiritual dimension, the same conclusion follows. No one can bypass the "judgment seat of Christ." To appear there with the sins of your life upon your soul is no less foolish than the choices made in this life that lead to tragic death. To become a believer when you at last meet Christ (as indeed everyone will, Rom. 14:10b-12) is to meet Him too late! To confess the error of your lifestyle and wish to repent when Jesus as Judge pronounces you unfit to enter heaven is too late! To develop the fervent desire to worship God with all your might, when you are forced to conclude in His very Presence that this is "man's whole duty," (Ecl. 12:13), is again too late!
The opportunity to face reality, to build faith, to turn away from sin, and to devote your life to living by God's standard (righteousness) is RIGHT NOW! The only hindrance is pride, which rebels at the thought of submitting your own will to the will of someone else, namely GOD. The person thrashing about in the freezing pond would gladly go back to the place before he stepped on the thin ice. The motorist hurtling into a ravine would immediately return to the quarter-mile before the curve, if he could. The person covered with sores and dying of AIDS would welcome the opportunity to undo his promiscuous conduct before he became infected. But the day of salvation is NEVER YESTERDAY, because no one can go back in time. At the Judgment, multitudes would gladly return to this present life to believe in God and serve Him diligently so that God would save him. It is only TODAY when you can make that critical, vital decision.
