Thought for the week: Don’t wait another moment to be saved by God - there is great urgency to the salvation of your soul

Dr Thomas Chalmers was the 19th century leader of the Free Church of Scotland.

​Rev David McMillan, Free Presbyterian Church

One day a lady from his congregation came to see him about her daughter and said: “I cannot get my child to come to the Saviour, I’ve talked and talked to her, but it is no use.”

Dr Chalmers thought that the mother might be pushing her daughter too hard about salvation, so he said: “Let me talk with your daughter myself, and we will see what may be done.”

One day, shortly after he met the daughter and started a conversation with her about her soul, he said: “You have been bothered a good deal about the matter of your soul’s salvation. Suppose I say to your mother that you don’t want to be talked to about the matter for a whole year, how will that do?”

The girl hesitated for a little and then replied, “Well, I don’t think it would be safe to put off the matter for a whole year; something might happen, I might die before then.”

“Yes, that is very true”, said Dr Chalmers and then suggested: “Suppose we say six months.” The daughter didn’t think that even that would be safe. Chalmers then offered the girl another alternative, “Well then, how about three months?” After a brief hesitation, she replied, “I don’t think it is safe to put it off at all.” So just then they prayed together, and the young girl was gloriously saved.

That is a vital lesson that every unsaved person needs to learn, "It’s not safe to put off the matter of salvation". The Bible teaches that you need to be saved, but it also stresses the fact that you need to be saved now. There is great urgency to the salvation of your soul.

There are many people who think that there is plenty of time to be saved. They know they need to be saved and they intend to be saved but there is no hurry. That is a fatal mistake that especially young people make. The reality is that you do not have plenty of time. In the Bible God warns you: ‘"Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth’ (Proverbs 27:1). The solemn fact is that you dare not put off getting saved even until tomorrow, because you don’t know if you will live to see tomorrow. Before tomorrow dawns you could be in eternity.

God says: "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (Second Corinthians 6:2). The right time, the only

time for you to be saved is now. Therefore, let me plead with you not to wait another moment.