How might your life look different if you knew you had only thirty days to live? Pastor Craig Groeschel says you would do three things differently. First, you would turn your “when” into “now”. Second, you would trade your intentions for actions. Last, and certainly this applies only to those who are determined to be Christ’s disciples, you would devote your whole heart to Jesus.
I agree with Mr. Groeschel. I think we recognize all these points to be worthwhile changes in our lives. If time were winding down, we’d want to make the most of it. I have news for you: time is winding down for all of us. The question then begs to be answered, “Why wouldn’t we alter our lives to affect those changes now?”
Turn your when into now
How many times have we said, “when I save/earn enough money, then…” or “When I accomplish this, then…” or of course, “Once I turn a certain age, then…”. We’re always waiting on someday. We’re always putting off what we know we should do, even want to do, now for later. The excuses come fast and easy. Fear, admitted or not, stifles our creativity, ambition, and calling. If we knew we had thirty days to live, we wouldn’t put off until tomorrow what we wanted to do today. Our bad habit of procrastination would be instantly banished. Best of all, we’d be bolder and more courageous. Nothing about us would have changed except for our perspective. Why not change it today?
Trade intentions for actions
If you are anything like me, you’ve got an impossibly long list of intentions. My actions reside on a far shorter list. It’s about time we started evening those out, don’t you think? I know if I knew I had thirty days to live it would be easy to leave no intention undone. I’d at least begin, even if I weren’t certain I could finish. A deadline is a tremendous motivator. If we wait until the end to begin, we will die with the remorse of having lived a life leaving so many things undone.
Be wholly devoted to Christ
This is the one making the least sense of all. When we surrender our lives to the Lordship of Jesus, we promise to live our lives wholly devoted to Him and under His rule. We swear to live by His rules and guidelines, to be His witnesses and His hands and feet in this world. It shouldn’t take the threat of death or the sudden realization of a quickening accounting for our actions to drive us to devotion. This is something we owe to Jesus every day of our lives whether we have thirty days to live or thirty years.
Thirty days to live
What changes would you make if you knew you had only thirty days to live? In what ways would your life look different? My guess is you would follow the steps above. You’d turn your when into now, your intention into action, and be wholly devoted to Jesus. We don’t know how long we have to live. We aren’t guaranteed another week, day, or breath. Would you make changes if you knew you had only thirty days to live? Make them now. We don’t have the luxury of waiting. We shouldn’t put off any of these things anyway. Living fully devoted and alive in this moment is glorifying to our Creator. Let’s not wait until we have thirty days to live. Let’s change now.