2 Corinthians 6:2

THE ACCEPTABLE TIME

‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’

2 Corinthians 6:2

This repeated word ‘now’ reminds us that the time it embraces is a short time. Whether we interpret it to mean to-day, or yesterday, to-day, and to-morrow, or even extend it to the threescore years and ten, the normally allotted years of man, it is still very short.

I. To every individual there is a golden present which can never return, and in which may lie boundless opportunities for the future. Indeed, there is a ‘now’ running all through the ages, and applies equally to nations and churches as to individuals. Because at the crucial moment of their existence those responsible for their well-being have failed to grasp their opportunities and have been content with a dead past, and instead of rising to the occasion have failed to see the danger. Blinded by the pleasures of the moment, like Rehoboam they have blundered into a revolution. History has seen ancient and powerful civilisations pass into nothingness, because they have trusted to the successes of the past and missed the opportunities of the present.

II. The same may be said of Churches.—Where are the churches of which we read so much in the New Testament? Most of them have lost their influence as centres of Christianity, because of their lethargy and unfaithfulness. Many of them have fallen into the hands of the enemies of Christianity; and the standard of the Cross has had to be borne by those which once formed the outposts of the Church. Constantinople, the city of Constantine—the new Rome—built as a distinctly Christian city, by the first Christian Emperor, is now the chief centre of Mohammedanism. Antioch, Carthage, Alexandria, have lost their old prestige, because those responsible for them have failed to recognise the importance of this Scripture, ‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’

III. Let us beware, lest we, as a Church, and as individuals, make a singular mistake.—If we do not seek to go foward, we shall go backward. There is no such thing as standing still in the Christian life. It is a race to be run—a race that can only be won by training and exercise. We must not rest on our oars; we must never weary of ‘toiling in rowing’ if we wish to reach the other side. Since ‘sin entered into the world’ the religious life is a constant struggle with opposing forces. We must breast the stream with the tide against us. We are so apt to forget this, and to rest content with what we do, or with what we have done, rather than in thinking what we might do, and so trying to do more. The best way to begin is to try and better our own spiritual life, by living nearer to God.

—Rev. C. Rhodes Hall.

Illustration

‘We must never rest content with the past. No doubt, once, we did run well. We can recall our first love and enthusiasm for Christ. Then we thought we were capable of doing great things for Him. With our larger experience now, we are able to see that feeling and emotion had a large share in our enthusiasm. We may have learnt to rest our faith upon a more solid foundation than the shifting sands of feeling, yet, in the routine of our religion, there is a danger of performing our spiritual duties in a mechanical and perfunctory manner, which is not only displeasing to God, but robs us of that pleasure and satisfaction which our religion is intended to impart. To worship and serve God as a matter of duty is better than not attempting to do it at all, but duties, unless they are sweetened by love, are apt to become irksome. Lent, then, is a season when we may attempt to realise once more that in the presence of God there “is fullness of joy,” and “at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” ’