As a friend of mine rightly spoke, “People live in either the past or the future and tend to stay away from ‘today’”. Man’s soulish thoughts are the enemy of the here and now. Their minds will attempt to reason why today is not the day for FATHER to move through them. Their minds will attempt to defer until a day in the future thus removing any responsibility to live for today and be sensitive to THE SPIRIT and respond today.
John the Baptist recognized Jesus to be the Son of GOD and was a witness to the three baptisms of Jesus at the Jordan river but later began to analyze, reason, and assess causing him to send out his own disciples to inquire of Jesus. In Luke 7:
18 Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things.
19 And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?”
Jesus had just raised the dead son of the widow from Nain and yet John the Baptist had already allowed his own reasoning to overtake the Spiritual reality of current events. John was ready to push his expectation out into the future. Jesus responded:
21 And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.
22 Jesus answered and said to them, “Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.
23 And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”
Jesus moved the focus back to “today” and this is where we should live as well.
“NOW faith is” not “soon faith will be”. Faith is in the present tense, not the future tense.
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Men should respond today to FATHER’S Word, not reason it away for another day. Jesus revealed this problem when He spoke about worrying in Mathew chapter 6:
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
We reason away our situation rather than focusing on the here and now. FATHER is speaking today and those who are sensitive to HIS SPIRIT will respond today. Let each of us focus on hearing and responding to HIM today, not setting our attention on the future at the expense of today’s blessings. Today is the day of your salvation and let not your own reasoning dilute today’s opportunities.