START ON TUESDAY

When my wife and I built our home and moved in, we went through the phase that everyone goes through: the phase of now and later. We decided the things we must have now: the bed, some clothes, the toiletries, the microwave, the flipflops, the robe and my workboots. The later? Those were things like pictures on the wall, stuff on the shelves, organizing the garage, box of DVD's, etc.

But we wanted to have friends over, to celebrate family birthdays, hold our small group and have houseguests. But...there were those undone things: the boxes still on the floor, the pictures not on the wall, the towel rod in the guest bathroom. We found ourselves saying, "We can have out-of-town guests after the boxes are unpacked...after the pictures are up...after the garage is organized...after the landscaping is finished. Months later, we decided together to quit living in the "afters" and start living now. So what if the boxes were unpacked and the basement wasn't finished.? We love people more than appearances!

Have you put off joy? Maybe you find yourself saying a lot of "afters"...
...after the kids are in school, I'll start my workouts
...after the kids are on break, we'll go camping
...after the kids graduate, I'll start a small group study
...after the holidays, I'll re-start my prayer time
...after we retire, we'll go see those old friends
...after I get through this week, then I'll start next Monday.

Break the trend! Why not start on Tuesday?

No commitment?

What is friendship without commitment? Just an acquaintance. What happens to a marriage without commitment? Divorce. What are team members without commitment? Losers. Not much can be accomplished without commitment.

Some friends of mine have marked their calendars for a sprint triathlon which is a shorter version of the swim, bike, run competition. But without "commitment to training" they will not finish. They will pass out, fall short or permanently impair their body. Marking your calendar for a competition is useless if you don't commit to training.

How many marriages don't go the distance simply because there is no "renewed commitment" daily, weekly, monthly?
How many churches close their doors because there is no commitment to the next generation of leaders? The church dies because there is only a commitment to "now."
How many jobs are lost simply because there is little commitment to excellence, but rather simply a commitment to "get my check"?

If you want to finish the race, you must commit to training. I found a quote attributed to marathoner Frank Shorter. Frank finished second in the Montreal Olympics in 1976. Moments after, a reporter asked him, "I know you must be disappointed...Do you plan to go for the gold medal again in 1980?" The Olympian calmly looked back at the reporter and said, "Well, of course I wanted to win the gold medal. But the question I have to ask myself now is, "Will I commit myself to running 10 miles per day, every day, for the next 4 years?"

Jesus said, "A wise man hears my words and puts them into practice." (Matthew 7:24)