Do you ever wonder what others will say about you when you finally die? Well I sure do. In fact I think about it often. Why? The Bible says, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (James 4:14). Our lives are simply short, yet we act as if we will live forever; but we won't. Everyone (except for Enoch and Elisha) has died. And there is no exclusion for you (or me). But we have no rational reason to be afraid of death anymore--because "Christ Jesus . . . abolished death and brought life and immortality" (2 Timothy 1:10). In Christ we are immortal. But that is a topic for another time. Which brings me to my next point--time. While Christ has dressed us in immortality, we still only have one life on this Earth. Many, including myself, have used James 4:14 to say that this life is so short that there is no point in putting anything that will last into it. We think of it like an investment. But yet we ignore that it is, in fact, an investment! Let me use one of my favorite examples found in the Bible--the parable of the 'talents:' "To one he [the master] gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’ His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’ His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest. 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. . . And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’" (Matthew 25:15-28). This parable is a wonderful example of how time on earth is an investment in greater things. We need to remember that this life matters more than we can fathom. We need to live with an abandon and never look back upon the worthlessness of comfort and security. Because this life is where the stakes are cast, and where we sit upon the edge of eternity passionately showing the narrow road to those who are so desperately lost. Well, that is what we need to be doing. Are you living with abandon for the gospel? Let's stop holding back. What do you have to lose anyway?
Just everything.
Just everything.
~TDH
The Final Word.
My favorite quote is by Jim Elliot. Who was a missionary murdered by the Aucca Indians in Ecuador. It reads like this: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." It just reminds me that life is fleeting and that God's gospel is not. "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death" (Revelation 12:11 emphases mine). A life 'lost' for the gospel is the best-spent life imaginable.
No comments:
Post a Comment