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Not Now But Afterwards
by
T. Austin-Sparks
"Who is there among you that will give ear to
this?
that will hearken and hear for the time to come?"
(Isaiah 42:23).
Without considering the context of these words, we use
them to ask ourselves if we really believe that there is
a time to come. Do we believe that the time to come is a
bigger time than now, that the afterward is much greater
than the present, that there are ages of ages before us,
and that however long it may be, our whole lifetime here
on earth is only a small fragment of a dispensation? Do
we believe that our service in "the ages to
come" is far more important than in this age?
We do not thereby rule out the importance of this life in
which we should buy up every opportunity and redeem the
time, but even so our life is but a span which will soon
be completed, and we depart just when we are reaching a
condition of being able to help others. No sooner have we
learned something which might be of value to other people
than we are called away. What a problem, what an enigma
life is!
"For the time to come." That was the
perspective of the apostles, one of whom wrote, "I
will give diligence that... ye may be able after my
decease..." (2 Peter 1:15). This is the real test -
whether we want always to be in view, interested only in
what we can do in our own lifetime, or whether we are
content to wait for the values of "the time to
come".
The question arises as to whether you would be prepared
to go to serve the Lord in India or Africa, and within a
few weeks lay down your life, either in martyrdom or in
sickness. Would it be worth it? If you think so, then it
can only be in the light of the afterward, the "time
to come". You believe that it would be worth while
to go out to India for just a month and die, do you? If
you do not, you have no right to go.
Let us always have "the time to come" as a real
motive in living. The fruit of our lives cannot be
immediate, for only a small part of its meaning can be in
our days, the total value will appear in the afterward.
We have to live not only for this time, for though we
live right up to the limit in our own day we cannot do or
be much, and I doubt whether the outcome here is worth
the cost. The cost, however, is not just for our
lifetime; the Lord has in view "the ages of the
ages".
First published in "Toward the Mark" magazine, Jan-Feb 1972, Volume 1-1.
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