“I meant to…” “I was planning to…” So much of our lives is spent talking about things we never actually do: the plans we leave unfinished, the conversations we put off, the steps we know we should take but never get around to. Life moves forward, yet we hesitate and delay.
Until something suddenly shakes us awake, forcing us to see how much time has slipped through our fingers.
Recently in our church life, we have had such a wake-up call. A sister received a serious medical diagnosis that reminded us all: life is short. What have we been spending our time doing? Or perhaps a more direct question: Why have we wasted so much time? If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ve lived for too long in a cycle of good intentions and failed outcomes. We try, we struggle, we fall short again and again. But through this recent wake-up call, the Lord is telling us again that what God has ordained for us is not another attempt at self-improvement, nor is it the exhausting work of trying to be a “better Christian.” What He has given us is something higher, something completely beyond our own effort — He has given us Christ Himself: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3).
This overcoming life isn’t found in striving to improve, suppressing our weaknesses, or even praying harder. It’s not something we can manufacture through determination or discipline. The more we rely on ourselves, the more we fail. But when we turn to the Lord, when we stop trying to “fix” ourselves and simply receive Him as life, everything changes. We find His grace is sufficient, and His power is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).
So what are we waiting for? Another day? Another season? Another crisis to wake us up? Life is fleeting, and what matters most cannot be put off. The Lord is present, right now, as the Spirit — ready to supply us, fill us, and be our life. But we must have a proper condition. We have to turn to Him without delay. Recognizing our own weakness and inability, we must stop our trying. As we have witnessed in our own church life, a true believer is simple, open, and ready to receive all that Christ is.
– CO