"We working together also beg you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For He says, ‘at the acceptable time I listened to you, and on the day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!’" (2 Corinthians 6:1-10)
In the name of Jesus. Amen. St. Paul pleads together with God: Repent! Don’t wait, don’t stall, don’t put it off, repent now.
This isn’t how I live! If I thought, honestly thought, that now was the acceptable time, that today is the day of salvation, I wouldn’t commit some of the horrific sins that I do. It’s not a matter of procrastinating on my part, it’s living as if the acceptable time is some other time and the day of salvation is far, far, far, far away!
You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? You live the same way! Lent is the season of confession and absolution for us. Have you lived as if you have received the grace of God in vain? I have. The answer is not to muster up some, "Now-is-the-day-of-salvation" kind of living. That may work for a while, but it won’t last.
The answer is for us to confess our sins and receive forgiveness from the One who did indeed live His whole life in the now-is-the-acceptable-time and now-is-the-day-of-salvation way for us. He lived His life as gift from His heavenly Father, expecting only good things and more gifts from His Heavenly Father. He didn’t receive the grace of God in vain, and His living counts as a gift for you and me too!
On Good Friday, Jesus died on the Cross for all the times and days where you have lived as if salvation wasn’t a now-thing. Hanging there dead on the Cross is your salvation and mine. Hanging dead on the Cross IS the grace of God for you and me.
What makes the salvation won way back on Good Friday a now-thing for us? The Word and the Sacraments! The Word delivers His salvation to us in our time and place.
Jesus’ salvation for us is a right-now thing! Right now, the Word is being put into your ears and your sins are forgiven. Right now is the time to remember your Baptism and drown your sins. Right now is the time to rejoice in the Lord’s Supper where salvation is put in your mouth.
Repent! Turn from receiving the grace of God in vain and hear the Gospel! The Lord has listened o your cry for forgiveness and has helped you. Jesus died for you. Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is day of your salvation! In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Higher Things Reflections are written by Rev. George F. Borghardt III, Assistant Pastor at St. Mark Lutheran Church, Conroe, TX.