I heard an interview with worship leader Laura Story yesterday. In it she made the statement that her biggest fear when she was younger was that the gospel would cost her her life. Now, she said, her biggest fear is that the gospel won’t cost her her life.
She went on to explain that she didn’t want to get to the end of her life only to realize she hadn’t invested her time and resources fully to God. The basic message was that she wants to make certain that this life counts. It’s an aspiration we should all seek to attain.
We get so caught up in the trivial pursuits of this world. We want to make sure we have the right clothes, drive the right car and live in the right neighborhood. We spend our money on bigger televisions, nicer furniture and expensive toys. Our time gets consumed by entertainment, our jobs and commitments that serve no kingdom purpose. Time passes so quickly and we are allowing countless divine moments to slip through our fingers, untouched and unattained.
Every single one of us will die someday regardless of how invincible we might presently feel. No one escapes death and as a result, no one escapes the judgment of God. We all will stand before our creator some day and be asked to give an account of the way we lived our life. I’m not certain what this judgment will entail, but I’m afraid of what will be involved. I’m afraid we will be asked to justify every wasted moment, every missed opportunity, and every dollar we spent on things that did not further or promote the kingdom. We were created to worship and glorify the Lord, so I’m afraid we’ll have to account for all the times we glorified ourselves instead of pointing the way to Christ. We will have no answer to these questions, only the devastating realization of a life that could have been.
I don’t want to come to the end of my life worrying about my feeble attempts at defending myself in the presence of the almighty God. I want nothing to dampen my unbridled passion to meet the One who saved my soul. To achieve that end, the work must begin today. I can’t change the bad behaviors or missed opportunities of my past, but I can determine to change my life right now and resolve to seek Christ and Him alone for the rest of my life on earth. With God’s help I can seize every moment to serve Him that is placed in my path. I can ask for new eyes to help me see the world as He does, to reveal the needs all around me that I have become so accustomed to overlooking.
We will never be able to fully devote our lives to Christ until we come to the place where we are willing to change the way we live. As long as we are living by the rules of this world, we will never be able to be effective in bringing about His kingdom on earth. It’s time to stop trying to keep up with the Joneses and start serving them instead. We need to quit pursuing the American dream and begin dreaming wild dreams for the sake of the Kingdom. No longer do we need to climb the corporate ladder because no matter how high we climb we will never reach Heaven. True success is found only in living the life Christ created you to live. Fulfillment comes as you live your calling for His glory.
Don’t wait until the end of your life to figure out whether or not you have lived it in a manner that is pleasing to God. If you wait that long, there’s a pretty good chance you didn’t glorify Him and that it will be too late to do anything about it. While we still have breath, let us determine to make our life count for the Kingdom of God. Let’s move beyond lip service and platitudes and into a life of passion and radical devotion to the mission of Jesus Christ. That is all that matters in the end, so why waste our time on anything else? Make sure that when it’s all said and done, you have lived a life that counts for the Kingdom; your mission starts now.
Question: What are you doing to make certain your life counts for the Kingdom?