I’ll do it tomorrow

Tomorrow is perhaps the greatest and most troublesome word in the English language.  It is encouraging to think tomorrow will be a better day.  Tomorrow I am going on vacation; tomorrow I get to see my friends.  Tomorrow can also get us into some trouble when we say tomorrow I will start eating healthier, tomorrow I will stop being so negative, tomorrow I will take care of the yard work.  The trouble is that tomorrow has two definitions: 1) the day following today; 2) a future period of time.  Often when we talk about doing things tomorrow; we often end up pushing into one tomorrow then the next, and finally not doing it at all.  One tomorrow becomes another and next thing you know it is weeks, months or years later.  We also can become so focused on tomorrow, we miss today.

 

If you had to write an autobiography of your life; what would it be like?  Would it be a bestseller?  Would it be action-packed; filled with drama or something else all together?  Would it be filled with stories of things that you did or stories of things that you were going to get to tomorrow?

 

I remember when I was in college telling a chaplain at my school, “when I finish seminary and I get to do ministry…”  I think the chaplain did everything in his power not to yell at me and simply said, what are you doing today?  Why can’t you do ministry today?  Why can’t you do God’s work today?  As I thought about it, I realized the only reason I thought this had to wait till tomorrow was me.  There was no real reason I could not do what I wanted today.

 

Next time you say to yourself, tomorrow I will…, stop and ask, is there any reason that I have to wait till tomorrow (or whatever future time you are going to do it)? 

 

Matthew West says it this way in his song, “Story of Your Life”

This is the story of your life
You decide how the rest is gonna read
This is your chance between the lines
To redefine what kind of legacy you leave
This is the story of your life
And it’s a story worth telling

 

Jesus said “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10.  This abundant life God promises doesn’t start tomorrow; it doesn’t start when you get your life together, when you finish college, earn enough money or get the right job.  God’s promise of an abundant life starts today.  The story of each of our lives is being written right now, so let’s not wait till tomorrow to “start” living.  Let’s start living a story that is worth telling today.

 

Pastor Bill

 

 

Discussion Questions

  1. What are you waiting till tomorrow to do?  What is holding you back from doing it today?
  2. What is one thing that you could do today that you have been thinking about for a while (reading a book, working out, paying off debt, etc.)?