Yours No Longer!

Yours No Longer!
From Timeless Grace Gems
Francis Bourdillon, 1873

You had something a short time ago which you have not now, and never can have again. I do not say that you have lost it. Perhaps you have, and perhaps you have not. But, be that how it may—the thing is gone. A very few hours ago it was yours. But you went to bed for the night, and when you awoke this morning it was gone! You did not even look for it or ask for it. You were not at all surprised to find it gone. You knew it would be. Yet it was a very precious and useful thing. It could not be had for money; and now that it is gone—all the world cannot buy it back again. What is this thing? Yesterday.

When you awoke this morning—yesterday was gone, and today had taken its place. You cannot have yesterday back again. You have got beyond it in the journey of life. And in that journey, there is no turning back; you must go right on to the end without stopping.

What did you do with yesterday, while you had it? Whatever you did—you cannot undo it now. Yesterday is passed, with all its doings. If you spent it amiss—then you lost it. Even if you spent it aright—it is gone.

A few hours more, and another day will have gone. What is now today—will have become yesterday. So it is with all our days. Our tomorrows are becoming todays, and our todays are becoming yesterdays. This is a very serious thought.

How are you living today? Soon you will be looking back on it as yesterday. How shall you feel about it then? Do you think the time will ever come, when you will wish you had spent this day differently? "So teach us to number our days aright—that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

The time is indeed coming when all who have misspent their days will wish with all their heart that they had spent them otherwise. Many a man has said on his death-bed, "Oh, that I could have my time over again!"

And beyond the death-bed, many will wish forever that they could have their time over again. But it cannot be. Yesterday does not come again. Today will not come again. Life will not come again. All things go on in their regular course.

First life, then death, then judgment, then eternity. Life here is only once.

Life is given you to prepare for eternity. Yesterday was part of life—but it is gone. Today is another part—and that also will soon be gone; what are you doing with it? Oh, consider.

You have a God to meet, and a soul to save. You have sins to be forgiven, a judgment to prepare for, eternity to spend. Lose no time. Seek Christ today. Do not put it off until tomorrow. Do not wait until today has become yesterday. Let it be today's work, to seek Christ for your Savior. If yesterday went by and left you without Christ, then see it that today does not leave you so too. Let not another night come without your asking God to wash away your sins in the blood of Jesus, and to save your soul.

Then, today will be a better day to you than yesterday was. Yes, ten thousand times better!

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts!" Hebrews 4:7