Pastor’s Place: Don’t Put It Off

By Robert Sterie, Pastor, Northcrest Community Church

In my first year of serving as a pastor, I performed something like three funerals.  In my first 25 years of life I had only attended one funeral, so to have to officiate three in one year was an incredibly challenging experience.

One moment from my interactions with the grieving families will always stand out in my mind.

The man who had died was in his late 60s, and one of his daughters was crying as the family was discussing the plans for the funeral.

After everyone had left, she stayed behind with her husband and spoke privately with me.  She shared about the time she had spent with her dad and the memories that they had made.

One of the last things she said stuck with me, and still sticks with me today.  She said, “I always thought I had more time.”  There were so many questions she had wanted to ask her dad, as well as problems to be resolved and wrongs to be forgiven.  She had put them off because, as she said, she thought she had “more time.”

We always think we have more time until that time is taken from us unexpectedly.  We are not guaranteed next year, next month or even the next hour of our lives.

The Bible tells us to “make the most of every opportunity” (Ephesians 5:16) because we don’t know if there will be another.  So if there is something weighing on your heart that you need to do, let me encourage you- do not put it off!

If there is someone you need to forgive, do it!  If you need to tell someone you love them, do it!  Don’t put off until tomorrow what you are called to do today.

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