“Better Late Than Never”

Tuesday, October 08, 2019

You've heard that phrase, right? We frequently use it as an excuse for tardiness, but there's actually a true spiritual principle in it. Jesus even once told a parable which shows, as one of the many lessons that can be drawn from it, that it's better to commit yourself to live and serve your Master at a late point in life than to never come into his service at all (see Matt. 20:1-16). And we could think of many applications of the principle in the way that we live our lives:

• Better to be a good spouse now, even if you haven't been for a long time, than to continue to put it off.
• Better to be a great parent now, even if you haven't been for a long time, than to continue to put it off.
• Better to be evangelistic to a friend now, even if you haven't for a long time, than to continue to put it off.
• Etc.

In all those cases, it's tempting to think, "Well, I haven't for such a long time… it would be weird or awkward if I started now." And I completely understand that temptation. But on the other hand, if you choose to do the right thing, even late in the game, it would mean that you are doing the right thing. And it's better to be doing that late than never doing it.

Like the workers in the parable, it is better for us to commit late to the right thing and still have time to be rewarded for that choice than to put it off forever and lose all of its possible blessings.

- Dan Lankford, minister

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