What’s one thing you wish you had started doing earlier in life?
What is one thing you wish you had started doing earlier in life?
For me, the answer is simple.
I wish I had known God earlier.
Not merely known about Him.
Not merely attended church.
Not merely believed that God existed.
I wish I had been genuinely born again earlier, surrendered my life to Jesus Christ earlier, learned to walk with God earlier, discovered His purpose for my life earlier, and stepped into my divine destiny earlier.
If I could go back and speak to my younger self, I would not first tell him to make more money.
I would not tell him to build his career faster.
I would not tell him to travel more, network more, invest earlier, or pursue success more aggressively.
I would tell him:
Find God. Know Him. Walk with Him. Serve Him. And do not waste years outside His purpose for your life.
Because when you find God, you find the One who knows why you were born.
I Wish I Had Understood Earlier That Life Is Not Mainly About Success
The world teaches us to pursue achievement.
Get educated.
Build a career.
Make money.
Own property.
Become respected.
Create a comfortable life.
There is nothing inherently wrong with many of these things. But there is something terribly wrong when we achieve everything except the purpose for which God created us.
Jesus asked one of the most important questions ever spoken:
Mark 8:36-37 KJV
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”
You can win in the eyes of men and still lose where it matters most.
You can become successful and still be spiritually empty.
You can be celebrated publicly while privately wondering, Is this really all there is?
I wish I had understood much earlier that the greatest achievement in life is not becoming somebody.
It is becoming who God created you to be.
I Wish I Had Been Born Again Earlier
One of the greatest truths I eventually discovered is that Christianity is not merely about belonging to a religion.
It is about receiving a new life.
Jesus told Nicodemus:
John 3:3 KJV
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Being born again changes everything.
You stop merely existing and begin living from God’s life within you.
Your priorities begin to change.
Your desires begin to change.
Your understanding begins to change.
You begin to discover that life is bigger than food, money, career, possessions and human approval.
You begin to see eternity.
You begin to understand purpose.
You begin to recognise that you belong to God.
I sometimes wonder how differently certain seasons of my life might have unfolded if I had surrendered fully to Christ much earlier.
Some decisions might have been different.
Some distractions might have been avoided.
Some unnecessary battles might never have happened.
Some years might have been invested differently.
But I have also learnt something important:
You cannot change yesterday, but you can surrender today.
I Wish I Had Learnt to Walk With God Earlier
Knowing God is not supposed to be a Sunday experience.
It is a walk.
A relationship.
A daily fellowship.
A life lived in His presence.
The Bible says:
Genesis 5:24 KJV
“And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.”
What a statement.
Enoch’s life was defined by one thing:
He walked with God.
I wish I had understood earlier that nothing compares with this.
To wake up conscious of God.
To pray.
To hear His Word.
To recognise His dealings.
To obey His promptings.
To allow Him to correct you.
To depend upon Him.
To involve Him in your decisions.
To know that your life is not wandering aimlessly because you are walking with the One who sees the end from the beginning.
There are things wisdom would have saved us from if we had walked more closely with God.
There are relationships we might not have entered.
There are decisions we might not have made.
There are opportunities we might not have chased.
There are battles we might not have fought.
There are doors we might not have tried to force open.
The closer you walk with God, the clearer many things become.
I Wish I Had Discovered My Divine Purpose Earlier
One of the greatest tragedies in life is to spend years becoming something God never called you to become.
God does not create people accidentally.
There is intention behind your existence.
The Bible says:
Jeremiah 1:5 KJV
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
Jeremiah had an assignment before he understood that he had one.
And so do you.
You were not born simply to pay bills, raise children, accumulate possessions, grow old and die.
There is a divine intention connected to your life.
Paul wrote:
Ephesians 2:10 KJV
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
Notice those words:
“Before ordained.”
God already had something in mind.
There are works prepared for you.
There are people your life is supposed to touch.
There are assignments attached to your existence.
There are contributions you were born to make.
There is a divine destiny waiting for your obedience.
I wish I had begun consciously walking in mine much earlier.
Serving God Earlier Would Have Been One of My Greatest Investments
People sometimes think serving God means losing your life.
I have discovered the opposite.
Serving God helps you discover your life.
Jesus said:
Matthew 16:25 KJV
“For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”
There are things you only discover when you surrender.
There are dimensions of yourself you will never meet while living completely for yourself.
There is fulfilment that money cannot buy.
There is joy that recognition cannot provide.
There is peace that possessions cannot guarantee.
There is something deeply satisfying about knowing:
I am where God wants me to be, doing what God wants me to do.
That is success on another level.
But I Refuse to Live in Regret
This is important.
I can wish I started earlier without allowing yesterday to imprison me.
God is a Redeemer.
He can take what remains of your life and make it meaningful.
He can restore wasted years.
He can accelerate purpose.
He can redeem mistakes.
He can redirect your steps.
He can still use you.
The Bible says:
Joel 2:25 KJV
“And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.”
I cannot relive my younger years.
But I can give God the years ahead.
And so can you.
Perhaps you are 18.
Perhaps you are 30.
Perhaps you are 50.
Perhaps you are 70.
The question is not simply:
“Why didn’t I start earlier?”
The greater question is:
“Now that I know, what will I do with the rest of my life?”
If You Are Young, Please Hear Me
Do not wait until you are older before taking God seriously.
You do not need to “enjoy life first” and come back to God later.
Walking with God is not the end of your life.
It is the beginning of your real life.
The Bible says:
Ecclesiastes 12:1 KJV
“Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;”
Give God your strength.
Give Him your dreams.
Give Him your intelligence.
Give Him your ambition.
Give Him your gifts.
Give Him your future.
Do not give the world your best years and offer God what is left.
And If You Think You Have Started Too Late
You have not.
As long as God has given you breath, your response can begin today.
You may not be able to rewrite the first chapters of your story, but by God’s grace, the ending can still be different.
Paul said:
Philippians 3:13-14 KJV
“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Do not spend the rest of your life mourning the years you cannot recover.
Give God the years you still have.
If I Could Start Again…
I would choose Jesus earlier.
I would seek God earlier.
I would study His Word earlier.
I would learn to pray earlier.
I would serve Him earlier.
I would surrender my plans earlier.
I would discover my calling earlier.
I would stop worrying so much about what people thought.
I would stop trying so hard to create a life without first asking the Creator what He designed that life to become.
I would step into my divine destiny earlier.
But since I cannot go backwards, I have made another decision:
I will not waste the years ahead.
And neither should you.
Your Greatest Beginning Can Still Be Today
Maybe this article is not really about what you should have done earlier.
Maybe it is about what God is asking you to do now.
Jesus is still calling.
Purpose is still calling.
Destiny is still calling.
The question is:
How much longer will you wait?
The Bible says:
2 Corinthians 6:2 KJV
“(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)”
Not someday.
Now.
If you have never genuinely surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, this can become the most important day of your life.
Come to Him.
Repent of your sins.
Believe that Jesus Christ died for you and rose again.
Receive Him as your Lord and Saviour.
And begin walking with God.
You may one day look back at many things you wish you had started earlier.
But do everything you can to ensure that knowing God is not one of them.
A Prayer
Father, thank You for the life You have given me. Forgive me for every year I have lived outside Your will and every opportunity I have wasted. I surrender my life afresh to You. Lord Jesus, be the centre of my life. Help me to know You, walk with You, serve You and fulfil everything You created me to accomplish. Redeem my time, order my steps and lead me into Your purpose for my life. Let the rest of my years bring glory to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
If you could go back, what is the one thing you would start earlier?
For me, the answer will always be:
Know God. Walk with God. Serve God. And step into His purpose for your life as early as you possibly can.
Cornelius Bella, Message Bearer
