We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. --John 9:4
The Lord made this statement to His disciples because He was
on His way to the Cross. I think that we
are to “make hay while the sun shines”.
It is a basic principle of a successful life that we ought to make use
of present opportunities – unless the Spirit checks us. The promises of the future may not be
fulfilled.
Jesus says this in the context of a question from His
followers when they came upon a man blind from birth and wanted to know if the
cause of this defect lay with the individual or his parents. Jesus
answered, It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of
God might be displayed in him (John 9:3).
This doesn’t mean, I don’t believe, that God made this man blind just so He could cure him. A couple of chapters farther
on, Jesus says something similar with regard to the illness of Lazarus being a
condition that “does not lead to death” but being for the glory of God (John
11:4). It means that God seizes the opportunities created by evil and the consequences of our living in a fallen world to bring us life, encouragement, hope, and joy.
I do not often know why things happen. In this sense, any work that I do is usually
done in the dark. I do what my hand
finds to do (Ecclesiastes 9:10) as best I can.
I cannot know if it will make much difference in the course of history,
but it will make a difference in me and possibly in another person or two that
I am able to help out.
We say we want workers to be paid a “living wage” yet we
decry employers like Chick-Fil-A and Hobby Lobby because they are owned by
Christians. We mock, attack, and
ridicule Christianity and Christian values then are shocked to find that
businesses, corporations, and governments are concerned only with money, power, and control and are rife with corruption, dishonesty, hypocrisy,
and scandal. We celebrate degeneracy and
decadence and wonder why things are dying and going downhill.
The cure for America is not to pass laws requiring us to treat
one another like – I don’t know – maybe Christians, but for us as individual Christians to live
like Christians regardless of the government or the media or what other people think.
Right now that is not too hard, but it is getting harder quickly. When the government can force businesses to
fund abortions or bake cakes in violation of their convictions and religious
beliefs, we are bordering on persecution.
The time to get on the right track is now. The time to do the right thing is now. The time to stand up together against tyranny
and government overreach is now. The
time for fervent prayer is now. The time
for radical obedience is now. The time
to do the works of Him who sends us is now.
The time is now.
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