"Some more convenient day..."

"Some more convenient day..."

Hymn: "Almost Persuaded"
Words and Music by Philip P. Bliss (1838-1876)
Tune: ALMOST

Convenient: Made accessible by easy means

This is one of those manipulative gospel songs used at decision times in evangelical churches. It doesn't appear in many main-stream hymnals anymore, but I grew up singing it; perhaps you did, too.

All around the country in years past, many a sinner stood many times through the singing of this hymn  during revival services, digging their fingernails into the wooden, un-padded pew... finally breaking loose with the phrase "Almost, but lost!", heading down the aisle to the altar.

While it was, I'm sure, intended to call people to first-time belief, I feel like it has a more enduring message for those of us who try to trust God every day of our lives.

When I was a kid, I knew what the word "convenient" meant when we sang past it in this song, but it wasn't a word we used as much as we do now. Venable's Store at the bottom of the hill from our house was certainly convenient to us, but we didn't call it a convenience store. Things being "made accessible by easy means" were not something we sought really. The east-Tennessee work-ethic instilled in me that if it's worth having, it's worth working for. I had never heard the word "entitlement."

That has certainly changed in most pockets of today's society. We not only want it, we want it now... and with as little effort from us as possible.

I'm afraid for many of us, our spiritual lives are like that sometimes, too. We forget that God worked mightily in Moses' life once every forty years, and that those outcomes came after much input from the man with the staff-in-hand.

"Almost persuaded, now to believe." So begins this text. Every day, you and I are called upon to continue believing in God... trusting that Christ is still saving us from hazards and tragedies... redeeming our lives over and over. Some days, I have to be persuaded to trust him more fully. Do you? Most days I do better than "almost" - I actually persuade (convince) myself to believe.

Waiting for a convenient time to trust is kind of like turning to God as a last resort. None of us want to do that; but waiting to access him with ease might be tempting.

Where does this little essay end up? May we be totally persuaded to believe in God and trust his leadership. May we understand that Christ continues to  redeem us and save us from slippery slopes that end in defeat. May we not wait until a more convenient time to surrender ourselves to his keeping.

Some more convenient day? Nah. There isn't one.

Johnny Paycheck Sings "Almost Persuaded" a la Grand Ole Opry
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bQgyuJvmoF0