DO not misuse the example of the dying thief! Now is the accepted time; do not put it off till tomorrow. Putting it off till tomorrow is resolving to serve, the devil today. If there is one who says, “I will repent tomorrow,” he means to say “I will serve the devil today.” It is awful for a person to resolve to be religious in a certain time to come; for that is deliberately saying he will serve sin till then. Now is the accepted time. Here is a man in a dungeon. “Escape—there is the door ajar; it only wants a little touch and you can escape.”
“No; I’ll wait till tomorrow.” When he looks, someone has come and put a stone against the door. “Escape now.” “No; I will wait till tomorrow.” There is a second block, and tomorrow there is a third block, and so on until the door is fastened up and he cannot get out. Here is a man in chains. “Break those chains.” “No; I will wait till tomorrow.” He is diseased, and gets weaker and weaker every day, and each day an enemy comes and rivets those chains faster; and yet he says, “It will be easier tomorrow.” But when tomorrow comes, he is weaker, and those chains are tighter than ever.
ML 06/24/1906