Living Urgency

( Scroll down for Chinese translation , 向下滚动查看中文翻译) 

 Time is short. Life is short. So live with an urgency. You see, it's a natural tendency for us as humans to get complacent. We're creatures of comfort. We all have a tendency of putting things off that we know we should be doing, in order to progress in our faith and our purpose. For example, you know you need to spend time in prayer. But how many times do you put it off. You know you ought to give to that woman or help that man or spend time reading God's word.  But how often do we have a lack of urgency when it comes to the things of God. If you read Proverbs chapter 3 verse 28, the Bible basically tells us not to wait until tomorrow when we have it in our power to act today.  And then in James chapter four, verse seventeen, tells us that we are actually sinning when we know the good we should do and we don't do it. This should serve as a reality check for all of us. We sin just as much by omission as we do by commission. Meaning that you sin just as much by not doing something as you would by doing. 

Every sin against God is not necessarily something we do.  Our lack of urgency leads us to sin by not doing what we know we should do. God has created each of us to contribute to His kingdom. That's why He gave all of us unique gifts and talents. All so that we impact the body of Christ and be fruitful in this world. But you see when we get comfortable, when we experience joy, peace, a certain level of worldly success, we tend to drift into thinking that we have all the time in the world to get to know God. And check your own heart to see if what I'm saying is applicable to you. We look at tomorrow as though it's a guarantee. So we put off reading the word.  I'll start tomorrow.  Do you see the lack of urgency. The only time we ever surely have is right now. 

The only opportunity that we know we have is the one in front of us, right now. God wants our time,  our energy, our commitment, our willingness to sacrifice for Him. And my advice to you is that there is no better time than now than today to start giving the Lord all of your energy, all of your time and to have a willingness to serve Him. There's no better time than the present. The Lord wants to be the priority in our lives. So we should make every effort we can to get to know Jesus Christ with an urgency.  We should work intently to do his will while there is still time. Life is short. Our days are numbered. James tells us that we don't even know what will happen tomorrow.  He called your life, my life, a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. We are so temporary to this world that our lives are compared to the liquid we see for a few seconds, coming out of a spray bottle.  That tiny mist is you. That tiny mist is me. In the grand scheme of things. 

 That's how quickly we appear and vanish in this life. So hear me when I say that we need to live with an urgency.  An urgency to do everything Jesus Christ has set out for us to do. Live with an urgency because you don't have the time to waste by not being who God called you to be.  We don't have time to dabble outside of what we know we're here for. A pastor asked an older man on his deathbed , "what's one of the most sobering realities of life that comes to mind for you right now?". The old man answered, "the brevity of it." It's short. It passes by quickly. And many people are hit with the reality that life has passed by very quickly when it's too late. So hear me clearly, time does not wait on you. It will never wait on you.  God purposely gave you this one brief life. So make your time count. The number of days you have on this earth should produce some kind of fruit for God's purposes.  You have lives to touch.  You have unbelievers that you need to point to Christ.  You  have a call to serve.  You have assignments to fulfill with a due date that you are not aware of. Let that not lead you to procrastination with your deeds. Let it instead lead you to labor like the due date is today. Work with urgency. Serve with urgency.  Love with urgency. Pray with an urgency. Seek God with an urgency.  Every day really does count.  Our lives will be judged one day by our heavenly Father in heaven. And I mean everything.  Every deed we've done or not done in our precious time on this earth will be held an account before God. This is the knowledge we have now while there is still something to be done about it. So do something about it. Do all you can about it.  The Bible says in James chapter two, verse fourteen, what good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works. Can that faith save him? At the end of it all, our works will be judged and tried by fire. They will be judged and tried by fire. Let’s not breeze through that statement.  When that statement was made by Paul in  his  first letter , to Corinthians, believers, the Corinthians knew exactly what it meant to be tried by fire. The city of Corinth had been run through and devoured by flames itself. The Corinthians were focused on external methods of measurement for spirituality. ( More study, click here ) 

Everything that could have possibly been consumed  by the fire were consumed by it. The fire tried the city, leaving only the great marble standing. While everything else was annihilated. This fire judged the city of Corinth in a definitive irreversible way. In this same way our works will be judged by fire. It will burn everything that can be burned and only that which is deemed worthy by God will remain. So I'm saying that only what we do for Christ and in Christ will stand after the trial by fire.  We have work to do. A little time to do it. We all know that no person knows the day or hour that Christ will return.  At any moment, He could decide to snatch his church away. So what would each and every one of us have to show for our lives up to this moment. 

We've all heard the phrase 'the last days' since biblical times. A few of the new testament letters include this phrase, as the writers press their readers on toward greater acts, in the name of the Lord.  They did not know whether the Lord would return very soon or not. But they knew it was important to stress that we are living in the last days. In God's eyes,  maybe this is because every generation needs to have a sense of urgency in their actions. Perhaps the term 'last days' isn't necessarily a definitive countdown of the exact number of days until Christ returns. Perhaps the term 'the last days' is simply another way of saying, live with urgency because life is short. Every generation needs to know that it could, in fact, be the last days during their lifetime. Every generation needs to know that they have an important role in God's plan for the kingdom.  We're all contributors-members in the body of Christ.  We're all important. We are serving the kingdom of God. And so we should be. We have to be effective members in the body of Christ,  now, more than ever. There needs to be a sense of urgency in our hearts that leads to action. Live every day as if the return of Christ is during your lifetime.  He is coming back. Be prepared. 

生活紧迫感 (Shēnghuó jǐnpò gǎn) Living Urgency 

时间很短。 生命短暂。 所以活在紧迫感中。 你看，我们人类自满是一种自然的倾向。 我们是舒适的动物。 我们都倾向于推迟我们知道应该做的事情，以便在我们的信仰和目标上取得进步。 例如，你知道你需要花时间祷告。 但是你推迟了多少次。 你知道你应该给那个女人或帮助那个男人或花时间阅读上帝的话语。 但是当涉及到上帝的事情时，我们有多少次缺乏紧迫感。 如果您阅读箴言第 3 章第 28 节，圣经基本上告诉我们不要等到明天我们有能力今天采取行动。 然后在雅各书第 4 章第 17 节告诉我们，当我们知道我们应该做的好事却不做时，我们实际上是在犯罪。 这应该作为我们所有人的现实检查。 我们因疏忽而犯罪，与因犯罪而犯罪一样多。 这意味着你不做某事就像你做某事一样犯罪。

 每一次得罪上帝的罪都不一定是我们所做的。 我们缺乏紧迫感会导致我们因不做我们知道应该做的事而犯罪。 上帝创造了我们每一个人来为他的国度做出贡献。 这就是为什么他给了我们所有人独特的礼物和才能。 所有这些都是为了让我们影响基督的身体并在这个世界上结出硕果。 但是你看，当我们感到舒服，当我们体验到喜乐、平安、一定程度的世俗成功时，我们倾向于认为我们在世界上拥有所有时间来认识上帝。 并检查你自己的内心，看看我所说的是否适用于你。 我们把明天看作是一种保证。 所以我们推迟阅读这个词。 我明天开始。 你看到缺乏紧迫感。 我们唯一的时间肯定是现在。

 我们知道我们拥有的唯一机会就是现在摆在我们面前的机会。 上帝需要我们的时间、精力、承诺和愿意为他牺牲的意愿。 我给你的建议是，没有比现在更好的时间开始把你所有的精力、所有的时间和愿意为他服务的时候了。 没有比现在更好的时间了。 主想要成为我们生命中的首要任务。 所以我们应该尽我们所能，急切地认识耶稣基督。 趁着还有时间，我们应该专心地遵行他的旨意。 生命短暂。 我们的日子屈指可数。 詹姆斯告诉我们，我们甚至不知道明天会发生什么。 他称你的生命，我的生命为一团雾气，出现片刻，然后消失。 我们对这个世界如此短暂，以至于我们的生活就像我们在几秒钟内看到的液体，从喷雾瓶中流出。 那个小雾是你。 那小小的雾气就是我。 在宏伟的计划中。

 这就是我们在此生中出现和消失的速度。 所以当我说我们需要紧迫地生活时，请听我说。 急切地去做耶稣基督安排我们去做的每一件事。 活在紧迫感中，因为你没有时间浪费在不成为上帝呼召你成为的人上。 我们没有时间涉足我们知道我们在这里的目的之外。 一位牧师在临终前问一位年长的老人：“你现在想到的最发人深省的生活现实之一是什么？”。 老人回答：“简略。” 它很短。 它很快就过去了。 许多人都被这样一个现实击中，即当一切都太晚时，生活很快就过去了。 所以听我清楚，时间不等你。 它永远不会等你。 上帝故意给你这短暂的生命。 所以让你的时间计数。 你在这个地球上的天数应该为上帝的目的结出某种果子。 你有生命可以触摸。 你有非信徒需要指向基督。 你有一个需要服务的电话。 您有一些任务要在您不知道的截止日期前完成。 让这不会导致你的行为拖延。 相反，让它像今天的到期日那样引导你劳动。 紧迫地工作。 紧急服务。 急切地爱。 迫切地祈祷。 急切地寻求上帝。 每一天真的很重要。 我们的生命终有一天会被我们在天上的天父审判。 我的意思是一切。 我们在地球上宝贵的时间里所做的或未做的每一件事都将在上帝面前被记下。 这是我们现在拥有的知识，但仍有一些工作要做。 所以做点什么吧。 尽你所能。 圣经在雅各书第二章十四节说，如果有人说他有信心却没有行为，那我的弟兄们有什么用呢？ 这种信心能救他吗？ 在这一切的最后，我们的作品将受到审判和审判。 他们将受到火刑的审判和审判。 让我们不要轻视那句话。当保罗在他的第一封信中向哥林多信徒、哥林多信徒发表这句话时，哥林多信徒就清楚地知道用火试炼是什么意思。 科林斯城已经被火焰贯穿和吞噬。 哥林多教会专注于衡量灵性的外部方法。

一切可能被大火吞噬的东西都被它吞噬了。 大火烧毁了这座城市，只留下巨大的大理石屹立不倒。 而其他一切都被消灭了。 这场大火以绝对不可逆转的方式审判了科林斯市。 同样地，我们的作品将被火审判。 它会烧掉所有可以烧掉的东西，只有被上帝认为值得的东西才会留下来。 所以我是说，只有我们为基督和在基督里所做的，才能经受住火的考验。 我们有工作要做。 一点时间去做。 我们都知道，没有人知道基督再来的日子或时间。 在任何时候，他都可以决定夺走他的教会。 那么，到目前为止，我们每个人都必须为我们的生活展示什么。

自圣经时代以来，我们都听说过“最后的日子”这个词。 一些新约书信包括这句话，因为作者奉主的名敦促读者采取更大的行动。 他们不知道主会不会很快回来。 但他们知道强调我们生活在末世是很重要的。 在上帝的眼中，这可能是因为每一代人都需要在他们的行动中具有紧迫感。 也许“最后的日子”这个词不一定是基督再来之前确切天数的明确倒计时。 也许“最后的日子”这个词只是另一种说法，因为生命短暂，所以生活在紧迫感中。 每一代人都需要知道，事实上，这可能是他们一生中的最后几天。 每一代人都需要知道，他们在上帝的国度计划中扮演着重要的角色。 我们都是基督身体的贡献者。 我们都很重要。 我们正在为神的国度服务。 我们应该是这样。 我们现在比以往任何时候都必须成为基督身体中有效的成员。 我们的心中需要有一种紧迫感，才能采取行动。 过每一天，就好像基督的再来是在你的一生中一样。 

他要回来了。Tā yào huíláile. He is coming back. 

做好准备。 Zuò hǎo zhǔnbèi. Be prepared.