Straight Thinking 021868 Better Late Than Never
Straight Thinking
021868
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Sunday. “Today is the happiest day of my life.” These were the words of Mr. Carr, who was recently baptized one week after his seventy-seventh birthday. Christians are happy when a person finally comes to Christ even though he has lived so long without him. It is better to come late than never to come at all, but is it not be better to have the joy of serving Jesus even from the days of your youth? (Read Ecclesiastes 11:9-10.)
Monday. One night early in Jesus’ ministry, a Pharisee named Nicodemus went to speak with the new prophet in Israel. This full-grown man was startled at the command to be born again! But Jesus was talking about the conversion birth—the start of a new spiritual life we should not neglect because we’re too busy, too afraid, or too proud. Someday it will be too late! (Read John 3:1-5.)
Tuesday. Hundreds knew Nicodemus as a ruler of the Jewish nation. We wonder how many of them supposed that he was party to the crime that his fellow rulers committed in killing Christ. How many people really know you? Are you sure they understand everything you do? You will not always have a chance to correct false impressions later. (Read Luke 24:19-20.)
Wednesday. Like Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus seems not to have made public his personal faith in Christ. If he had, the Jewish leaders could not have said that no scholar of the scriptures had accepted Jesus’ claim to be the Christ. Let’s not hesitate to speak up for Christ while we’re young. Why wait till his enemies announce victory before we take up the battle? (Read John 7:45-48; 19:38.)
Thursday. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin. This court had decreed that anyone who confessed Christ would be put out of the synagogue. If Nicodemus had confessed Christ openly, he may have been cast out of the Sanhedrin itself. But why should any of us try to continue as leaders of the people if it means failing to enter the kingdom of God? (Read John 9:22.)
Friday. Nicodemus was rich. If he had been put out of the Sanhedrin, he probably would have lost his source of wealth. But is keeping his wealth meant losing Christ, would he not have been better off losing the wealth? Do you suppose that using his money to buy a hundred pounds of aloes and myrrh to bury his Lord with, compensated for his earlier reluctance? (Read John 19:39-40.)
Saturday. Unlike Nicodemus, most of us don’t have to overcome the temptation of wealth, position, fear, or fame; yet we hesitate longer than he did to profess openly our Christian faith. We can make a clean break with such a past, its sin, and its hesitation. Better late than never? Why not now? (Read John 1:5.)
Virgil Warren, Straight, February 18, 1968, p13 christir.org