I’ll start over tomorrow.
How many times have you promised yourself, “I’m starting over tomorrow.”
Tomorrow I’m getting back on my diet, back on track with my exercise and healthy eating plan. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to have my quiet time first thing every morning. I’m going to get organized, I’m going to stick to my schedule, stay on task. I’ll start doing _________ or stop doing __________. Those things I know I really should do. The things I want to do and need to do. Things I promised my doctor or my family and friends.
Things I know God wants me to do.
On this ALMOST perfectly fresh new Monday morning (to be perfect, it would need to be the first day or first week of a new month), I want to encourage you — as I encourage myself — to start whatever it is today. Right now. Even if you’re reading this on a Tuesday or a Friday or in the middle of the afternoon. Or late at night. Because when it comes to starting over, we really can’t afford to wait.
Here are three reasons why:
1. All we have is today — right now — this very moment. We don’t know if there will be a tomorrow for us — or what it will look like, if there is. This is the time we have to make good choices, to do the right thing. To live with integrity. To bring glory and honor to God by being the women He created us to be. (Proverbs 27:1, James 4:13, 2 Cor 6:2)
2. Delayed obedience is disobedience. Too often, in a metaphorical sense, tomorrow never does come. We never do get around to doing what we know we’re supposed to do. (I’m not talking about having unrealistic expectations of ourselves or trying to please others. Just doing those things we know are right, things God has asked us to do.) Dragging our feet reveals more about our hearts than we realize. “I’ll obey You tomorrow, God” means “but I’m going to keep disobeying You today.” I’m just going to sin for a little while longer. And then I’ll be good, okay? No. It’s not okay. (Matthew 21:28-31, John 14:15)
3. Every good choice makes the next good choice easier — just as every bad choice makes the next bad choice easier. The longer I put off making the right choice — or the longer I keep making poor choices — the harder it gets to turn things around. I’ve gone that much further down the wrong road. Better to turn around right now. This instant. (Gen 4:7, James 1:14-15, 2 Peter 1:3-8)
The wonderful, fabulous, amazing thing is that we can. You can, I can. Regardless of what we did or didn’t do even thirty seconds ago, we can choose to start over right now. This moment. By God’s grace and in His strength, we can start anew. We don’t have to wait until tomorrow. Or next Monday. Or the next new week, new month, new year. We can ask Jesus to help us right now:
Do the next right thing! It’s that simple. Over and over again. As many times as we need a fresh start. There it is!
“Run each day’s race with all your might so that at the end you will receive the victory wreath from God. Keep on running even when you have had a fall. The victory wreath is won by him who does not stay down, but always gets up again, grasps the banner of faith and keeps on running in the assurance that Jesus is Victor!” — Basilea Schlink
What is the “next right thing” for you today?
