At a recent conference, I heard Craig Groeschel say, “If you’re not dead, you’re not done”. Many of us think that we have missed the boat, missed our calling, and missed our opportunity to do great things for the Lord. We spend half our lives trying to determine what God has called us to do, and then spend the second half lamenting the fact we didn’t discover it earlier. The Bible contains examples of God’s servant’s that were young, middle-aged, and elderly. It makes no distinction between age and ability to be used for the purposes of God. I think our reasoning of being too old is nothing more than an excuse for our inactivity.
As long as we have breath, we have the privilege and responsibility to use that breath to proclaim the love of Jesus to those around us. God’s Kingdom is not only for the young. Who are we to shirk our responsibility to lead and charge forward? Who are we to roll over and play dead, simply waiting for the world to end or for the Lord to come? Discipleship is a lifelong journey. It never ends. When we make the commitment to follow Christ, it is a commitment to follow Him for the duration of our lives. There is no time when we are disqualified from seeking Him, no hour when we should not be working for Him, and no day when we can say, “I’m finished”. We are finished when God says we are finished. To say it again, if you’re not dead, you’re not done.
If you are a sports fan, you recognize that every game is won in the second half. The halftime score ultimately doesn’t matter. What counts is who is winning when the clock winds down on the second half. To take the analogy further, the score in a baseball game doesn’t matter until the last batter is out. That’s when the totals mean something. That is when victory is determined. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in your life until now. What matters is what you will do with it from this point forward. Regardless of whether you are ten, thirty, sixty, ninety or over one hundred years old, none of us have a guarantee of anything beyond this moment right now. This is what matters. Now is the time to decide how we will live.
We love to make excuses of why we can’t or won’t do more for God. We love to assume that someone else is imminently more qualified or more prepared. Someone else is always stronger, more eloquent, or more connected. Jesus never asked for the pedigree of His followers. He simply beckoned hungry hearts to forsake everything they had ever known to follow Him. The call is still the same today. There is no retirement home for old disciples, no nursery for baby followers. There is only the path that leads to obedience and redemption. There is only the way of the cross. It is this road that we must travel if we are to be called His disciples. There are no rest stops and there are no benches. Following Jesus is a conscious choice we must make every day. Declaring His glory and His love is something we must do with every breath. The work is never finished. Don’t be deceived. If you’re not dead, you’re not done.
What lies of Satan have kept you from continuing the mission of Christ? What excuses must you stop making? Please join the conversation by leaving a comment below.