Is Today Your Someday

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” —  James 2:14-17.

We all have things on our “someday“ list. Things that we believe the time or the circumstances are not right. So we let the opportunities or experiences pass us by because we figure there will always be another time and more opportunities and experiences. What can you do to make someday today? We figure that there are seven days in the week ahead and someday is not one of them. 

But what if we had 30 days to live? That would dramatically change our thinking. We would live each day as our someday, making each moment, opportunity, and experience count. I know this is theoretical but is it? James 4:14 tells us, “…yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”  

In Sunday’s sermon we talked about putting off things until “someday.” What is that thing, that really important thing, that thing that affects everyone around you that you need to stop putting off?  Proverbs 13:12 tells us, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Today is the day we need to make positive changes in our lives. God is a God of the now, and whatever area He may be dealing with you in, I encourage you to start today. That is the only way you’re going to live the life you were made for. In the Old Testament book of Haggai, God had spoken to His people about building the temple. But the people said, “’The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house.” (Haggai 1:2) The people kept putting it off probably thinking they will get around to it someday. But the temple project languished for 16 years. Yet the time was right for them to build their own homes. In fact, Haggai rebuked the people for their concern for their own houses, while neglecting God’s house.

Notice what happens when we procrastinate. The prophet Haggai lamented, “Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.”

If we look to someday all the time, then we too need to consider our ways. The point of this story is: Start doing what God tells you to do right now. Don’t make excuses. Don’t look for a more convenient time. Just do it.

Remember, that good intentions are not the same as action. God wants to do His part; it’s time for us to do ours by making someday today. 

Discussion Questions:

1. What are the common thought processes of people who think in terms of someday? What are common pitfalls of someday thinking?
2. What does the someday mentality say about our understanding of time? Of God?
3. Name one area of your life you would like to move from the someday into the day column?   
4. What did God reveal to you in Sunday’s message?