At the close of a gospel meeting I asked a man if he were saved. His answer was, “No, but I will think seriously about it.”
He really seemed serious and earnest, but his answer was far from satisfactory.
For instance: suppose a man falls into a swift, running river, and he cannot swim. Just as he passes you, you throw a rope to him from the bank and call to him to catch hold of it. It is his only chance. A moment more and he will be swept beyond its reach.
Instead of seizing it with the grip of a drowning man, he replies, “I will think seriously about it.”
What would you think? You would think that the man had either lost his mind or did not know his danger.
Or suppose that a man has been suddenly and alarmingly seized with illness. He is rushed to the doctor, and the doctor gives him some medication and says, “This is the only thing that can save you. I don’t know whether I am in time with it, but your only chance lies in taking it now. Take it at once. Every moment is precious.”
The patient replies, “Doctor, leave the medicine where I can reach it. I will think seriously about it.”
What would you think of him?
And what conclusion can we come to when a guilty sinner on the road to hell, with death and judgment before him, can say of the good news of the gospel, “I will think seriously about it!”
God says, “Now! . . . Now!” Why do you wait? “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2).