Relevant Word

“Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,” When you have it with you.”

-Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭28

‬‬Consider This: Life is uncertain and our chance to make an impact on others is not guaranteed beyond this current moment. 

Relevance: Today, so many of us speak with the future in mind that we minimize the present. However, the present is the only time promised. Hence, if someone comes to us with a physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual need today, we should not ask them to wait until tomorrow. Especially if we have the means to help them today. The food in our pantry may be just enough to sustain our neighbor for another day. Our encouraging words could keep a relative from attempting suicide tonight. And the prayer we speak over our coworker’s terminal illness could heal them from the sickness that was going to end their life this evening. We wouldn’t tell a loved one who is bleeding profusely today to come back tomorrow for assistance. Because chances are they will not survive until tomorrow. The same is true about anyone who needs our immediate help. If we have the ability to help them now, then we must do so. 

Application: As believers, let us learn to look past ourselves to see the needs of others. The small inconvenience or time it takes to help one of our brothers or sisters in Christ will be well spent. In fact, our kindness and compassion may be the reason they are encouraged about tomorrow. Most importantly, we must never pass up the opportunity to witness to our neighbor. Every opportunity we have to help someone there is also a chance to witness to them. And by giving them the Word today, it just may save their soul tomorrow. How would we feel if someone came up to our door and asked us about Jesus, and we told them to “come back and I will tell you about Him tomorrow”, but they are tragically killed 3 hours later? This would bother us for the rest of our lives because there was one soul we had a chance to save, but we were too busy and too confident that we’d have tomorrow to tell them. Never put off anything until tomorrow, if we can do it today.