
One day, something will happen that will change your life. Out of the blue, everything will suddenly fall into place and make your entire existence make sense in an instant. Someday, someone will emerge from the shadows and sweep you away to a life of which you have only dreamed. You know that moment will come, so you sit and wait, confident in your assumption that something great will happen to you. But what if it doesn’t? What if all your waiting is just, well, waiting? Do you want to spend all your life waiting for your moment to arrive, or would you rather create untold moments by acting in the here and now?
It’s been my observation that people tend to live their lives in one of two states: active or reactive. Reactive people wait for life to happen and respond to whatever comes their way. Active people create opportunities and momentum to carry them through their days. Perhaps it’s just my personality speaking, but my guess is that most of us – given the choice – would want to be in the active camp. We long to do great things because Jesus created us to feel that way (Ephesians 2:10). We are driven to act because that is our identity in Christ.
Still, most people tend to be reactive. They wait for something to happen so they can respond and finally be on their way. Their entire life is spent playing defense because they never seek to advance on their own. “Someday” becomes their mantra. One of my mentors, Jim Rohn, used to say that “People stand around just waiting for someone to come by and turn them on. But what if they don’t show up?” I believe one of the clever ploys of Satan is convincing us that we must wait before we can do great things for the Kingdom; and so we do. We wait for the right time, the right circumstances or the moment of “calling”. Meanwhile the world spirals further into the depths of despair and depravity. We’ll do something about it… later… maybe. We’re just waiting for the right time to make our move.
Every second that we wait is a second closer to death for each of us. A finite amount of time has been placed in our hourglass, and that is all we have with which to make an impact for the Glory of God. There are no second chances and there are no “do-over’s”, so we must act while we still have time (John 9:4). For what in the world are we waiting? Fear keeps us paralyzed, but of what exactly are we afraid? People don’t act because they are afraid they will fail, or they’ll look stupid or because someone else might think less of them. What does any of this matter when compared to the mission of Christ? We are obsessed with how the world perceives us to the detriment of every lost soul.
There is no magic pill waiting to be taken, no elixir yet to be discovered. Too much time has already passed while you have simply been waiting. If you are a believer in Christ, something has already happened that has changed your life forever. Jesus has emerged to sweep you off your feet and give you a life beyond all imagination. It is He who causes everything to make sense. There’s no need to sit idle, hoping someone will come by and “turn you on”; you need simply act on what you already know. Stop waiting for your moment to arrive; your moment is now.