You in Five YearsSample

Tomorrow is not guaranteed. There's an urgency to this present moment. We are not living lives that are guaranteed or promised to us.

A few days into the new year, I got a text message from someone in our church. The person asked if I could come to their home, as the patriarch of the family was in the process of dying.

I drove to their home, sat with the man's wife, and read a few verses. We talked and prayed. The wife reminded me that a little over two months ago, he thought he was dealing with merely a sore back. Yet, as he went to the doctor and began to get some tests done, he discovered that he had terminal cancer. He didn't know cancer was present in his body at the beginning of November, but ultimately that cancer took his life by the beginning of January.

Life is not guaranteed, so we must live with urgency. To help you understand this urgency, I want you to think about purchasing a gallon of milk at a store.

When you open the doors and reach for a gallon of milk, what is the first thing you look for? The expiration date! You want to ensure you have enough time to consume the milk before it turns sour.

Sadly, life doesn't work like milk cartons. None of us has an expiration date written on our forehead like a milk carton, but we all have an expiration date. Our lives and even our opportunities have expiration dates. Consider Paul's words of wisdom in Romans 13: "Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep." We need to be wise people because the opportunities of our lives are fading.

If this talk about expiration dates and death is bumming you out, hang on! I have good news for you. God's grace has the power to change who we are.

In Titus 1, Paul agreed with the assessments that Cretans don't change. That's why he urged Titus to find people with character and integrity to lead the church. How could Titus find people with the character he described if Cretans never change? Paul testified to how the gospel changes people.

In 1 Corinthians 6, the Apostle Paul listed several sins that keep us from experiencing God's grace and expose our depravity. He notes, "And some of you used to be like this. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Future-you doesn't have to be an exaggerated version of present-you if you repent of your current direction and open yourself to the transforming power of God's grace and forgiveness. Right now, you could fall to your knees, call out to God, and invite Him to change your life.

Over the final two days of this plan, I'm sharing the two things that sustain real change.