Do the Next Thing

Mark's Gospel repeats one small word so often that translators sometimes leave it out to make the English smoother. The word is immediately, or at once. The Spirit immediately sends Jesus into the wilderness. The disciples immediately leave their nets. A man is healed and immediately the news spreads. Mark is not saying that everything happened in a hurry. He is saying that when the next thing came, it was done.

Most Christian life is not decided in dramatic moments. It is decided in the small delay between knowing what should be done and doing it. The email that needs an honest reply. The apology that is owed. The task at work that is dull but yours. The neighbour whose name you still have not learned. In that gap, excuses grow.

The lesson is simple and unglamorous. When the next right thing is clear, do it now. Do not wait for a better mood, a fuller calendar or a stronger sense of calling. Obedience that waits for ideal conditions rarely arrives. Ecclesiastes 11:4 warns that whoever watches the wind will not plant. Faithfulness in ordinary weeks is mostly a matter of closing that gap, one small immediately at a time.