May I ask you a question: If you knew that today was the last day of your life, who would you call? What would you say? What act of kindness would you render? What broken relationship would you try to heal?

Whenever we ask a question like that, it always tends to be theoretical because deep inside, most of us expect to live many more years. That’s certainly a reasonable expectation, and I hope it comes true for you.

But perhaps we should take Martin Luther’s advice to live every day with the day of our death placarded before our eyes. Leadership experts call that “living with the end in view.”

I wish to everyone who reads these words long life and good health, but I can’t guarantee it for myself or for my own family, much less for anyone else. Things can change so quickly. Just one phone call and life will never be the same again.

If you intend to serve the Lord someday, why not now?

Some of us need to reach out to people around us. There are things we need to say now:

“I love you.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Please forgive me.”
“Thank you.”
“I miss you.”
“I wanted to see you one more time.”
“I wanted to squeeze your hand.”
“I wanted to give you a hug.”
“I wanted to hear you laugh.”
“I wanted to see your beautiful face.”

Others of us need to get serious about our relationship with Jesus Christ. “I’m going to serve the Lord some day,” we say. If you are going to serve him someday, why not today? What do you gain by putting Him off? How can you be certain that when tomorrow comes, you will still want to serve the Lord? If you intend to serve the Lord someday, why not now?

In the end, it is Christ who calls to us. He speaks to us today. He stands and knocks at the door of your heart. Will you open the door and let him in? He says, “Come unto me. Come now. Don’t delay. Don’t put it off.” The Bible says, “Behold, now is the day of salvation.” The sweetest word and the most solemn word of salvation is the little word “today.” Jesus said to Zaccheus, “Come down out of that sycamore tree. I’m going to your house today.”

Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow may never come. If you can find one place where the Bible says, “Come to Christ tomorrow,” then I will come down from the pulpit and never preach again. But the Bible always says today—not tomorrow. Come to Christ while you have the opportunity and while you have the desire. Consider these words by Henry Twells:

When as a child I laughed and wept, time crept.
When as a youth I waxed more bold, time strolled.
When I became a full-grown man, time ran.
When older still I daily grew, time flew.
Soon I shall find, in passing on, time gone.
O Christ! wilt Thou have saved me then?

For some who read these words, Jesus is standing at the door of your heart, knocking, knocking, knocking. Will you open the door and let him in? Many years ago Holman Hunt painted a classic picture called, “Christ Standing at the Door.” It depicts Jesus at the door of a lovely English cottage. Everything seems normal until you study the picture closely and discover that there is no doorknob on the outside. Why not? Because the door to the heart must be opened from the inside. The painting is true to life and true to the Bible. If you hear the Lord knocking at your heart’s door, do not delay, go now and open the door and trust Christ Savior and Lord. Don’t wait a second longer. Do it now.

Written by Ray Pritchard