We just celebrated President’s Day. Can you name all 45 of them? Who was 19th? Name one thing William Henry Harrison did? He served for 31 days. Do you remember that William McKinley was assassinated? Grover Cleveland? Wasn’t he a Sesame Street character?
The real question isn’t about presidents. The question is one of influence. How many people will you influence in your life? Personally, I hope my grandchildren will remember me. That’s just two generations and a very small circle that I might have some lasting influence over.
Why do I bring this up? The Bible never asks, “What did you do?” Nor does it ask, “What will you do?” However, it consistently asks, “What are you doing?”
Our Christianity must be present day. We can’t think in terms of what we did in the past or what we will do in the future. We must be people who are living our faith now. Our testimony is not tomorrow or yesterday. It is now.
Those whom we affect are those we are in contact with now. The Bible says to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, body, mind and soul.” (Matt 22:37, Luke 10:27, Deut 6:5, Mark 12:30-31) That’s now. The Bible says to “love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt 22:39 and Mark 12:31). Not tomorrow, today. Present tense.
II Timothy 1:7 “For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” Those strengths are not to be used only yesterday nor are they to be stored for tomorrow. They are for now.
We influence the people around us today. We stand for our faith today. We witness to others today. We pray today.
There’s never going to be a National Holiday commemorating the people of Grace Redeemer. In all likelihood, few, if any, of us will be remembered beyond our grandchildren. How often do you think about your grandparents? When was the last time you thought about your great grandparents? But we do think about the people we come in contact with now. Those are the people we can be zealous about for God.
Remember what Paul wrote to Timothy, “The Spirit of God does not make us timid…” As a mater of fact, Paul writes in II Corinthians 6:2, “I tell you now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
Live showing Christ today.
By the way, Grover Cleveland was the 22nd and 24th president of the US, the only president to serve two non-consecutive terms as President. His father was a Presbyterian minister.
Ken Lont is Executive Director at Grace Redeemer.