Today Matters!!!

Hezekiah was ecstatic because he had experienced God’s miraculous power. He had lived a blessed life and was at the tail end of it all when he fell deathly ill. He pled with God for life, and it was granted him fifteen extra years. This miracle along with others such as the effortless deliverance from the Assyrian overlord, Sennacherib were signs God was with Hezekiah. Yes Hezekiah was a righteous man, yet like many righteous he was short sighted. For him, as long as clear and present danger was averted he had done his job as a king. How was he to know that four generations from hence, his progeny would be shackled into slavery, and everything he worked for would descend down a slippery slope and end in utter devastation of palace, temple, city and life.
To celebrate his health and recovery emissaries from the far West came to visit the king. Naturally proud of the attention paid to him by the king of Babylon he let his guard down. Displaying all the splendor, armory and secrets of Judah he let the king’s messengers see all that was valuable in the land. After all that was what powerful sovereigns did when adored by others, they displayed their wealth. Hezekiah was short sighted. He seemed to have forgotten that only recently the Assyrians, another powerful enemy had tried to enslave them.
Upon the departure of the Babylonians, Hezekiah was visited by the prophet who foretold the judgment that would be doled out because of his actions. His reaction was biblically uncommon. For example, David wept at Nathan’s message, the King of Nineveh bore sack-cloths and wept and Jonah’s message, yet Hezekiah the righteous king was pleased. Why was he pleased at a message of judgment? Simply because he would not be alive when God punished Judah. His exact words were “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good,” and scripture records “ For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my lifetime.’” Generations later, his descendants are enslaved, exiled, murdered, raped and the land pulverized by the Babylonians. If only Hezekiah were alive then. How would he have felt? Yet he was pleased when this word was spoken generations earlier.
Today does matter. Your very actions today resounds for generations and possibly for eternity. How you treat your family members may be marked in their psyche forever. How often I have talked to children whose parent’s harsh words marred their souls at an early age. Yet often times the harshness was stemmed by similar interactions when their parents were children. On a positive note, a kind word spoken, or a good deed shown, may propel someone to come to Christ. Jesus said we would be judged for every idle and careless word spoken. Eternity does bear record of our actions today. I believe God is raising up a generation today that will live for tomorrow, because they know today matters. Even the natural world prophesies this, as it emphasizes social justice, fiscal awareness and environmental responsibility.
Live today as if it’s your last. Make every effort count. Do your best for God, others and yourself. Remember you are being observed. Let the Christ in you be seen, and your impact will be felt for generations and eternity beyond.