The Barbeque Challenge

While waiting for some friends to show up at a barbeque restaurant yesterday, I saw the above sign: “If you knew you couldn’t play tomorrow, how hard would you play today?” It immediately stirred thoughts in me relative to life and ministry. In short, it challenged me.

As I considered that question, I was reminded of the pitfalls of complacency and procrastination, and I remembered the great need for all of us in the Body of Christ to live our lives with a sense of holy urgency. Below are some Bible verses and quotes that challenge us to shake off every element of passivity and lethargy, and to live with godly fervency.

“If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, ‘Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you’” (Proverbs 3:28 NLT).

“Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, as though you were waiting for your master to return… Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded.” (Luke 12:35-37 NLT).

“You know the saying, ‘Four months between planting and harvest.’ But I say, wake up and look around. The fields are already ripe for harvest” (John 4:35 NLT).

“We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work” (John 9:4 NLT).

“This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11 NLT).

“I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2 NIV).

“Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days” (Ephesians 5:16 NLT).

Here are a couple of verses that deal with procrastination.

“Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant. If they watch every cloud, they never harvest” (Ecclesiastes 11:4 NLT).

“As he [Paul] reasoned with them about righteousness and self-control and the coming day of judgment, Felix became frightened. “Go away for now,” he replied. “When it is more convenient, I’ll call for you again’” (Acts 24:25 NLT).

And finally, here are some outstanding quotes from individuals expressing the importance of deliberate

“The stakes are too high and time is too short for us to sleepwalk through these days.”
– Pastor Kevin Berry

“Felix trembled, but he did not repent. Felix was a victim of tomorrow. If today has slain its thousands, tomorrow has slain its tens of thousands.”
– Clarence Edward Macartney

“The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized during the lifetime of the opportunity.”
– Leonard Ravenhill

“’Now’ is the watchword of the wise.”
– Charles Spurgeon

Richard Baxter, the Puritan preacher of the 17th century conveyed the urgency, the zeal of Christian witness when he said, “I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!”

“Begin while others are procrastinating. Work while others are wishing.”
– William Arthur Ward

William Carey, the great missionary, said, “I’m not afraid of failure; I’m afraid of succeeding at things that don’t matter.”

Let’s go back to the sign I saw at the barbeque restaurant: “If you knew you couldn’t play tomorrow, how hard would you play today?” What does that mean to you and are there any adjustments you need to make?