2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.” Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

People who dabble in what is called “spirituality” often like to speak of their “search for God.”  C. S. Lewis once remarked that this struck him the same way as a mouse speaking of his “search for the cat.”  One gets the impression that such people are, in the end, not really serious.  For when presented with statements such as the one in today’s verse, people who are interested in a cloudy “spirituality” often tend to back pedal and speaking evasively about the need to “keep my options open” and avoid such “rigorous language” about salvation, Heaven, Hell, and “all that.” In particular, that short and menacing word “now” worries them.  It demands a decision and they would much prefer to simply float along, having their cake and eating it.

On the other hand, the poor in spirit — those desperate people who have realized it’s either God or disaster for their lives — read Paul’s words, not as a threat to their fat and happy comfort, but as they truly are: the promise that God loves and accepts them, at his very instant, no matter what they have done and no matter how little they deserve it.  Let us remember that we are all poor in Spirit and run to embrace this wonderful promise of God today.