Have you ever had something important to do but put it off because you could? Perhaps you’re like me, who, every year, I put off renewing my car registration until the last minute. I get my notice from the DMV months in advance and sit on it.

There are all sorts of things we delay in doing, usually thinking we’ll have the time to do them later. I’d say this must work out for us to one degree or another, or we’d stop procrastinating. Perhaps we don’t see any penalty for this sort of procrastination? Like my car registration, I renew at the last minute each year; there’s only a penalty if I do it late with no benefit to doing it early.

While we might treat some things in our lives this way, we’d be making a deadly mistake if we treat our salvation like this.

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.

Isaiah 55:6 (NIV)

This verse from Isaiah tells us that God won’t always be available to save the unsaved. The subsequent verses give us more insight.

Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (emphasis added).

Isaiah 55:7-9 (NIV)

I often hear people quote verses eight and nine; “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways” and “my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts,” but I think we forget the context. I certainly have remembered these verses out of context. These verses are absolutely true, and it’s good to remember where we stand relative to God’s thinking. However, if we consider these verses within the context, I think we can get a lot more out of them.

When we were children, I’d say most of us didn’t think much about dying. Unless we learned to become acquainted with it. We think dying is something that happens to “old” people. As we get older, we still think this until one day when we realize we’re a lot older than we used to be. There are many and sundry ways people realize their mortality. Perhaps they’ve reached the age when a prominent person died in their life when they were younger. Maybe they have had more and more friends die. Whatever the case, mortality has reared its head, so we take notice.

This is just one way in which our thoughts differ from God’s. We see things like age, sex, health, background, etc., as a means of security against death. “I’m too young to die” is what we think when young people die all the time. Children die all the time. People of every age, sex, health status, and background die all the time. And we mourn them. Yet, we still think it won’t touch us. Until one day, when we do realize it, or worse, it’s too late, and we die.

If we die without knowing the Lord… Well, we will meet God and stand in judgment before him. However, it will be too late, so “seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near” (Isaiah 55:6 NIV).

Do you know God? God knows you, and he loves you. He sees you as significant because you are. No one is insignificant to Him. He’s with you today, and he wants you to know him. Jesus died for your sins and mine so we could be free of guilt, freed from death, and live eternally with him. Eternal salvation is just a prayer away.

Pray this prayer with me to accept the gift of salvation:

Lord Jesus, forgive me for all my sins. I repent from my ways. Wash me in your blood and cleanse me from all unrighteousness. I believe that you died on the cross, were buried, and on the third day, God the Father raised you from the dead. Right now, Lord Jesus, I open the door to my heart and receive you into my heart as my Lord and personal Savior. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer, then congratulations! You are on the first step of a brand new life. Allow me to be the first to welcome you to my family, the family of God. There are abundant resources available online for new Christians. You can visit here for more information on what to do next. You can also leave me a comment, and I’ll do my best to help you on the next step of this incredible journey.

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