Do you have plans to take a gap year after year 12? Perhaps travel throughout Europe at some point? Maybe fall in love and be married by age 21? People love to dream about their plans for tomorrow.
I know people who love to tell me all the great things they’re going to do for God and his kingdom one day. One day they’re going to Bible College, one day they’re going to quit their work and go into ministry. One day they’ll go on that mission trip, and one day they live for God full on!
I hope they don’t all turn out to be ‘One Day Wonders’.
My 'One Day Wonder' friend
Seven years ago, I had a friend who told me he was passionate about youth and wanted to serve God as a chaplain in a school one day. I was excited to meet someone with grand plans for his life. I ran Christian lunchtime programs in schools and thought he’d be an ideal leader. “He’ll love it,” I told myself, “He’s passionate about youth and wants to be a chaplain; this will be an ideal building block to his dream”.
Sadly, when I asked him to get involved, he wasn’t interested.
I told him I was confused. I thought he wanted to work with youth and be a chaplain. “Yeah I want that one day, I don’t want that now,” he honestly replied.
My friend dreamed of doing great things one day, but instead he started working on the first floor of an I.T help desk. He wasn’t doing anything to help himself move towards that dream of being a chaplain.
The other day I got thinking about my 'one day' friend, wondering if after all these years he finally made his dream a reality. So I did some Facebook stalking and read his timeline. In a recent status update, he said: “Guess what … I GOT THE JOB!!!” Could it be true? Had my friend finally after seven years achieved his dream of becoming a chaplain? Not quite.
Instead of becoming a chaplain, he enthusiastically told his Facebook friends that he was now going to be working on the second floor of the I.T help desk. Sadly my friend appears to be a ‘One Day Wonder’, and he’s not the only one.
Jesus meets a 'One Day Wonder'
Jesus once asked a man to come and follow him, you can find the story in Matthew 8:18-22 and Luke 9:57-62.
The man agrees to follow Jesus but says “Lord let me first return home and bury my Father”. The man immediately tells Jesus he’ll have to wait until 'one day' – and only then will he be ready to follow Him wholeheartedly. Who does this guy think he is? He’s got the nerve to tell God to wait until he’s ready. Jesus’ reply is to the point, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead”.
Are you going to be a 'One Day Wonder'?
What are you making God wait for? Is it until you have enough money? Is it until you’ve completed your education? Is it until things settle down? Some people are like this man telling Jesus to wait until the conditions are right.
The conditions may never be right. Following Jesus will never be cost-free, trouble-free or risk-free. Ecclesiastes 11:4 says, “Farmers who wait for perfect weather never plant”. The same is true if you wait for everything in your life to be perfect before you agree to step out and do what Jesus is inviting you into.
James warns us about being overconfident about tomorrow: “How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while and then it’s gone” (James 4:14).
Don’t assume you have your entire life ahead of you. You have right now, when you can follow God and live for his cause. You might not even have ten years to sort everything out.
So, instead of day dreaming about the things you might do one day, ask yourself how you are living for God and his kingdom today – this month and this year. Take steps to pursue the ministry or mission dreams you have today. Don’t be a ‘One Day Wonder’.