Don't Put God Off

(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) II Corinthians 6:2 (KJV)

In the verse above, Paul is quoting the Prophet isaiah.

Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; Isaiah 49:8 (KJV)

We put God off when we don’t accept Him and the salvation He has offered. If you wait too long, it will be too late. Today, now. this very minute is the time to accept Jesus.

For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. Hebrews 2:2-3 (New International Version, NIV)

This asks a question. How shall we escape punishment if we neglect and do not take advantage of so great a salvation? The answer is that we can’t and we won’t. The only way to escape the punishment we deserve is by faith in Jesus. Jesus is salvation. If we neglect and do not accept Him, do not live for Him, do not receive Him and come to know Him, there is no hope of being saved.

We neglect salvation when we put God off, deciding we don’t want to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior now. We also neglect so great a salvation when we fail to make Him Savior and Lord daily in our lives, walking our own way and doing our own thing. Our choices show if he is our Lord or if He isn’t.

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Hebrews 3:7-11 (KJV)

The writer of Hebrews is quoting Psalm 95. The Holy Ghost warns us that when we hear God’s voice speaking to our hearts, we must not harden our hearts by not believing God, not listening to God, and not obeying God. He gives the example of Israel in the Wilderness, which was a desert, a dry place. When our hearts get hard, they get dry because there is no presence of God in our lives. We must love God to live. They hardened their hearts and died in the desert, never entering the Promised Land and the rest of God.

The author of Hebrews continues his warning in verses 12 and 13.

Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:12-13 (KJV)

He says to take heed and not to depart from God by hardening our hearts in unbelief. This results in disobedience to God and not receiving who He is and what He has for us. An evil heart departs from God, or turns away from Him, and is lost forever in hell without God. So, we are to receive the exhortation today to listen, obey, and follow God, to prevent our hearts from being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Don’t put God off. Sinner: believe in and receive Jesus. Christian: follow and obey God. This way we will all be ready for eternity.