Monday, April 10, 2006

Redeeming the Time

Ten seconds are left in the fourth quarter of the game. You are tied with the other team. There is going to only be one opportunity to score and break the tie. You are your team's last and only hope. The coach shouts at you, "Don't waste the shot!"

We are all each that player, but we play on a more challenging playing field. We are on the playing field of life. We have only one shot at life--and we should not waste it. Yet so often we become caught up in our own responsibilities, ambitions, and the general busy-ness of life that we waste our precious time. It is easy to forget that life has an end, and might finish sooner than we expect.

David reflects on this in Psalms 144:4, "Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow."
He continues on the same theme in Psalm 62:9, "Lowborn men are but a breath, the highborn are but a lie; if weighed on a balance, they are nothing; together they are only a breath."

Life is short, and time is precious. How are you going to spend it? What goals are you going to pursue? Perhaps the better question would be, what goals are worth pursuing?

Priorities: Take a lesson from the dead.
Elizabeth the Great, one of England's most famous rulers, spent her life amassing wealth and power. On her deathbed she stated sadly, "All of my possessions for one moment of time." She realized only too late the truth of Matthew 6:19-21,
"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Likewise, Henry, Prince of Wales' last words were, "Tie a rope around my body, pull me out of bed, and lay me in ashes, that I may die with repentant prayers to an offended God. O! I in vain wish for that time I lost with you and others in vain recreations." As is evident from his sorrowful exclamation, Prince Henry discovered that his life spent for pleasure brought him no gain in this life or would in the next.

Napoleon stated soon before his death, "I marvel that where the ambitious dreams of myself and of Alexander and Caesar should have vanished into thin air, a Judean peasant, Jesus, should be able to stretch out His hands across the centuries, and control the destinies of men and nations." Napoleon was arguably one of the greatest military minds in history, though his lust for power caused his downfall. At the end of his life, he was baffled that, for all of his battle plans and military achievements, a "Judean peasant, Jesus," had more power than he had. With regret, it seems that he realized that his life was misspent.

All these people were successful by the World's standards. Elizabeth was wealthy, Henry had fun, and Napoleon chased his dreams. Yet it is apparent that on their deathbeds, each of these people were dissatisfied with how they had spent their lives.
All of these people have since met their Maker, and I wonder if He was as impressed by their "successes" as the World was. In truth, God will ultimately be the One to Judge us (Hebrews 10:30.) He will judge our actions and declare whether or not the time that He gave us was well spent. What does God consider a well spent life? For what purpose does He want us to live?

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 it says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body."
Honoring God involves everything we do. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."

It is of no matter how many bestselling books you write, how many hits your blog recieves, how many people know your name, or if you graduate from college with honors. Those things, as important as they may seem today, are all going to eventually fade. The only things we do that will ever matter in eternity are the things we do with the motivation of pleasing God.

Only One Life,
Twill Soon Be Past
Only What's Done
For Christ Will Last
-Anonymous

Sources:
Quotes taken from The Evidence Bible, by Ray Comfort

Related Reading:
Matthew 25
One Heartbeat Away, by Mark Cahill
Don't Waste Your Life, by John Piper


(Feel like you have read this before? No, you're not going crazy. ;-) This is a re-post from my former blog, Sold Out, which is no longer being updated.)

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