In this first report of the new year, I want to do something a little different. I want to share with you a page I wrote yesterday for Walking in Christ. It will tell you, better than anything else I might say, what my perspective is right now, and where my mind is in regard to the work you are supporting me to do. I hope you will enjoy reading it.
WE HAD BETTER GET CRACKIN’
“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed” (Romans 13:11).
In Alabama many years ago, I heard about a perceptive observation that was made by a little girl. I had been speaking in a gospel meeting where she and her parents worshiped. Toward the end of the week, the child’s mother asked her what she thought of the sermons that were being presented, and the little girl said, “I think we need to get crackin’.” Like Dee Bowman, who often said that preaching isn’t preaching if it doesn’t “storm the will,” I believe in calling for change — and it amazes me how often children “get it” when the grown-ups didn’t hear anything but another “nice lesson.”
But what does “get crackin’” really mean? It’s an informal or colloquial way of telling somebody to get going with a task or activity. A more energetic way of saying “start now” or “begin immediately,” it often implies a sense of urgency in starting the action promptly.
In our spiritual lives, that’s exactly what we need to do. The Lord’s teaching comes to us as a call to action, and we need to get crackin’ and do about it what we should. In the words of James, we need to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).
In Romans 13:11, our introductory text, Paul wrote that “it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.” Knowing that our salvation is nearer than it used to be is not a reason to relax and put everything on autopilot; it’s a reason to get busy . . . maybe busier than we have ever been.
Time is a precious commodity. We ought spend it diligently (Colossians 4:17), especially in cases where we know we don’t have many years left to get our work done. The closer we get to the end, the more we should be “redeeming the time” (Ephesians 5:16), or as the NIV paraphrases it, “making the most of every opportunity.”
I recently read about a politician who criticized the opposition for their failure to act: “They never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity,” he said. I know I’ve been guilty of the same habit. As I write this, I’m approaching my seventy-fourth birthday. I need to get crackin’. God’s gifts are new each morning. He is patient, I know, but the freedom of choice He gives me is a gift I must not waste.
“Each morning puts a man on trial, and each evening passes judgment” (Roy L. Smith).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
WRITING GOALS
Pray with me that I will be given the ability to finish these works
- Walking in Christ — Book 6 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2025.
- Going Home — Book 7 in the WordPoints Daybook Series. Target: November 2028.
- Seeking God in the Psalms — a 52-lesson study — theme for each week, studies for Monday-Friday.
- Ecclesiastes — a full-scale commentary on the text of Ecclesiastes.
- Encountering Christ — what the Scriptures teach about Jesus Christ . . . and why we should believe it.
