2 Corinthians 6:1-2

2 Corinthians 6:1-2  As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain.  For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.”  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

James 4:13-14  Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 

Hebrew 7:12-15  See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.  We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.  As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”  

Now is the time of God's favor.  Today is the day of his salvation.  Today is the time of work for the Lord.  We are not assured of tomorrow.  We are like a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Whatever is to be done for the Lord should be done today.  Whatever plans we have to advance the kingdom of God should begin today, for we have no assurance of tomorrow.  If you plan to encourage a fellow believer, encourage that person today if possible.  If you have reason to share your testimony, speak today.  The Bible is very clear, we are God's instruments NOW, and we should be ready and willing to be used TODAY.  Paul was driven by this idea.  His life was constantly in the ministering mode, either in person or by letter.  His zeal to be God's ambassador, his instrument, was so great that he would not allow hardships or persecution to shut him down.  I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.  

We, too, are God's instruments.  We, too, should be consumed by zeal for God's work.  Now, none of us are apostles as Paul was, but we are God's ambassadors here on Earth.  As Christians we represent him; therefore, we should be lights every day, for He is light.  We definitely don't have a time when the ambassador designation is off in our lives.  If we think we do, we have probably HARDENED our hearts to his message of light.  We really don't have a time when we can say, we will not bring our lives under subjection to him in a certain area.  We don't have a time when we can get discouraged and say, "Not today--I am not going to carry God's message to the world just now, for everything is too hard."  Later on in this chapter, Paul indicates all the troubles that he has had in this world, but he never allowed himself to be off message because Paul knew his life was an epistle written to the world by the Holy Spirit.  He had no right to draw back into unbelief: he had died to himself when he chose to live only to God.  As he wrote to the church in Galatia,  "I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  (Galatians 2:20)  

Our lives are also written epistles; they are read by everyone we meet.  Regardless of the day or how we feel, people should read that God is alive in us and salvation has come to our lives.  God has lavished us with grace.  Our epistles should contain copious words of love and concern for others.  People should read words of joy, encouragement, and strength in the Lord.  Christians should be able to find supportive, not destructive words in our epistles.  Encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today.  The unredeemed should find words of God's love as well as words of  conviction: words that express the need to turn around and to walk with the God of love who gave his all.  All of us should be read today as God's ambassadors, not as representatives of our self-willed lives.  If we represent God's goodness, mercy, and love, many people will desire to read our lives, to know us and the God who sends us.  But if we represent only ourselves, our self-willed lives, WE WILL LIVE ALONE: NO ONE WILL REALLY WANT TO KNOW WHAT WE HAVE, FOR WHAT WE HAVE IS NOTHING SPECIAL.  But God said that we are a peculiar people, a chosen people, priests unto himself.  Therefore, we have a precious gift to give people and that is the message of the gospel, the "Good News" that Jesus Christ has come to Earth to redeem man from sin and to bring him into the household of God.  God bless you today, for this is the day of salvation.