The Need for Urgency

Mark 13:33 (NKJV)

We often have a sense of urgency when it comes to various aspects of this physical life; we urgently warn of the dangers of political figures running for office, poor political policies, poor economic decisions, and we are even urgent in ensuring that our bills are paid on time.  Did I get that school assignment completed? Did I respond to all my emails? While each of these things may be important to this life, are they all that important in the next life? Are we as urgent in our service of God as we are in the physical, mundane things of this life? When we identify a command of God, do we feel a sense of urgency to complete that task? When we look at individuals in the Bible, do we see urgency and immediacy in their actions?

Our society does not place any importance on matters of spirituality; school comes first, work comes first, and even vacations and entertainment comes first.  As Christians, obeying and pleasing God needs to be first not only in word, but in actions as well.  We need to instill the importance of pleasing God in ourselves, in our families, and in our friendships.  When do we seek to please God? When do we seek to obey His commands? Tomorrow? Next week? Next year? 

The commands of God are not always easy, nor do we always fully understand the reasons of God.  Does it have to be easy? Do we have to fully understand? God, testing the faith of Abraham, commanded the following: "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you" (Genesis 22:2).  Did Abraham understand fully what God intended to do? Did he understand that God would stop his hand at the last minute and spare Isaac? Did Abraham delay in his obedience of this difficult command? In Genesis 22:3, we are told that "Abraham rose early in the morning" and set about completing the task God had given him to do; he didn't delay, make excuses, or decide that because he didn't fully understand God's reasoning that he didn't have to complete it.  The Hebrew writer stated that Abraham had concluded "that God was able to raise him [Isaac] up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense" (Hebrews 11:19).  Abraham placed his faith in the promise of God and it did not matter whether or not the reasoning of God was understandable from a human's standpoint.  Do we have the faith of Abraham?

Consider also the example of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 13:1-11.  Within this passage, we are informed multiple times that Jeremiah did exactly as God had instructed him to do.  In 13:1-2, Jeremiah was told to acquire a linen sash and to put it around his waist, so Jeremiah did it.  Next, Jeremiah was instructed to take the sash, travel hundreds of miles, and hid it in a rock along the Euphrates river...which Jeremiah does (Jeremiah 13:4-5).  After many days, God told Jeremiah to return to the Euphrates River and retrieve the sash, which was ruined by that point (Jeremiah 13:6-7).  While God explained His reasoning in 13:8-11, the meaning of the sash and the two journeys over hundreds of miles were unclear to Jeremiah as he completed the tasks.  Did Jeremiah complain because he didn't understand? Did he complain because there were closer rivers to him that would have ruined the sash just as well as the Euphrates? Did he inform God as to how unreasonable His demands were? No, Jeremiah's attitude is summed up in the latter part of Jeremiah 13:5 where we read, "So I went and hit it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me."  

There are numerous such examples of obedience within the pages of the God's word (read Hebrews 11).  Do we have the same sense of obedience and urgency in our own Christianity? Do we put off obedience until some more convenient time (Acts 24:22-27) or do we seek to be saved NOW? Think about the example of the Ethiopian in Acts 8:26-40; the Ethiopian, upon hearing what was required of him, said to Philip in Acts 8:36, "See, here is water.  What hinders me from being baptized?"

Throughout the New Testament, we are given the warning that we do not know the time in which Christ will return, therefore we must constantly be prepared.  We need a sense of urgency because we do not know! Mark  13:32-37 expresses this point for us; we do not know when and we do not want to be unprepared when the time does come.  Paul, quoting Ananias, said, "And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16).