March 11, 2010
I am struck by what half-hearted people we are today. We are either living in anticipation of tomorrow or trapped revisiting yesterday; never do we seem to live completely in the present. We idolize our weekends and dread work days. We spend our free time sleeping, watching TV, playing on the computer, or doing other mindless activities. We avoid difficulties and challenges like the plague, seeking comfort, security, and ease in our daily lives. We daydream about retirement, but never seem to daydream about heaven. We buy animals and then regret buying them; we purchase items and then grow tired of them; we plan extravagant vacations and then bicker during them; we make commitments and then go back on them; we start serving in church and then become burned out from serving; we go to college and only do enough homework to get by; we look for friends that will gratify our needs; and we do almost everything in our lives to please ourselves and that keeps us from exerting too much energy in the process.
However this is all superfluous when we dig deeper and find out what the root cause of our half-heartedness is. Is it not accurate to say that our daily lives are so half-hearted because our daily walk with the Lord is half-hearted? I think so. We were created for a purpose and that purpose is to glorify God with our lives. We do this by enjoying Him and making much of Him by the way we live. So many Christians today are living self-centered lives instead of living cross-centered lives. We do not live wholeheartedly unto the Lord, hence the reason why we are such half-hearted creatures. God is not our greatest treasure and pleasure in life---no wonder we are such pitiful, wimpy people. What is our problem? We have forgotten what is real. We think that this life offers us the things that will make us happy, all the while not realizing that this life is but a vapor that will soon be past. Our view of God is distorted by our sin.
My question is if we found out that this moment---right now---is the very last moment we have to live, how would we live it? Would it make a difference in our lives if we only had one more moment to live? Perhaps we would realize what is truly important and throw ourselves wholeheartedly in living out that last moment?
God has challenged me to live each moment as if it was my last moment. I know I need this challenge because I find it so easy to slip into the wrong thinking that I am going to be on this earth forever. When I think this way, I do not live fully for the Lord because I think I have time and can wait until later to serve Him, I’ll start spending more time with Him when I am not working on this project, or I’ll go to church when I am older. I place God off to the side, all the while the few moments I have on this earth quickly speed away.
Lovers of Christ, we must realize and come to grips with the fact that we are dying people, living in a dying world that has no hope. We have hope in Jesus Christ and we must be sharing the hope we have with those around us! In a whisper all that we see will fade away and the opportunities God has given us here on this earth to share His love will be past. Do not live in the future and do not dwell in the past, but live fully in the present, making much of Christ with everything that is in you.
So I will live as a dying person, I will take each breath as though I were taking my dying breath, I will work as though I will never work again, I will sing to the Lord as though I will never sing to Him another song on this earth, I will pray as though I am praying my last prayer on earth, and I will live wholeheartedly for the Lord with the moments God has given me. Will I fail? Yes, but God will remain faithful.
Remember we will never live fully unless we live as dying people, throwing ourselves wholeheartedly into the work of the Lord.
So will you too live as dying people? Will you fight sin as if you’ll never fight it again, will you run hard toward the goal as a runner who is running his last lap? Pastors will you preach as though you will never preach again? Missionaries will you serve and proclaim Christ as though you will never do so again on this earth? Children will you obey your parents as though you will never have the chance to obey them again? Parents will you love your children, hold them, care for them, talk to them as though you will never do so again in this world? Teachers will you teach as though you will never teach again? Christians will speak as though you are speaking your last words? If this characterized our lives as Believers, would the world not be turned upside down in complete and utter shock and confusion, resulting in an awe for the God we serve who has given us such a living hope?
I am struck by what half-hearted people we are today. We are either living in anticipation of tomorrow or trapped revisiting yesterday; never do we seem to live completely in the present. We idolize our weekends and dread work days. We spend our free time sleeping, watching TV, playing on the computer, or doing other mindless activities. We avoid difficulties and challenges like the plague, seeking comfort, security, and ease in our daily lives. We daydream about retirement, but never seem to daydream about heaven. We buy animals and then regret buying them; we purchase items and then grow tired of them; we plan extravagant vacations and then bicker during them; we make commitments and then go back on them; we start serving in church and then become burned out from serving; we go to college and only do enough homework to get by; we look for friends that will gratify our needs; and we do almost everything in our lives to please ourselves and that keeps us from exerting too much energy in the process.
However this is all superfluous when we dig deeper and find out what the root cause of our half-heartedness is. Is it not accurate to say that our daily lives are so half-hearted because our daily walk with the Lord is half-hearted? I think so. We were created for a purpose and that purpose is to glorify God with our lives. We do this by enjoying Him and making much of Him by the way we live. So many Christians today are living self-centered lives instead of living cross-centered lives. We do not live wholeheartedly unto the Lord, hence the reason why we are such half-hearted creatures. God is not our greatest treasure and pleasure in life---no wonder we are such pitiful, wimpy people. What is our problem? We have forgotten what is real. We think that this life offers us the things that will make us happy, all the while not realizing that this life is but a vapor that will soon be past. Our view of God is distorted by our sin.
My question is if we found out that this moment---right now---is the very last moment we have to live, how would we live it? Would it make a difference in our lives if we only had one more moment to live? Perhaps we would realize what is truly important and throw ourselves wholeheartedly in living out that last moment?
God has challenged me to live each moment as if it was my last moment. I know I need this challenge because I find it so easy to slip into the wrong thinking that I am going to be on this earth forever. When I think this way, I do not live fully for the Lord because I think I have time and can wait until later to serve Him, I’ll start spending more time with Him when I am not working on this project, or I’ll go to church when I am older. I place God off to the side, all the while the few moments I have on this earth quickly speed away.
Lovers of Christ, we must realize and come to grips with the fact that we are dying people, living in a dying world that has no hope. We have hope in Jesus Christ and we must be sharing the hope we have with those around us! In a whisper all that we see will fade away and the opportunities God has given us here on this earth to share His love will be past. Do not live in the future and do not dwell in the past, but live fully in the present, making much of Christ with everything that is in you.
So I will live as a dying person, I will take each breath as though I were taking my dying breath, I will work as though I will never work again, I will sing to the Lord as though I will never sing to Him another song on this earth, I will pray as though I am praying my last prayer on earth, and I will live wholeheartedly for the Lord with the moments God has given me. Will I fail? Yes, but God will remain faithful.
Remember we will never live fully unless we live as dying people, throwing ourselves wholeheartedly into the work of the Lord.
So will you too live as dying people? Will you fight sin as if you’ll never fight it again, will you run hard toward the goal as a runner who is running his last lap? Pastors will you preach as though you will never preach again? Missionaries will you serve and proclaim Christ as though you will never do so again on this earth? Children will you obey your parents as though you will never have the chance to obey them again? Parents will you love your children, hold them, care for them, talk to them as though you will never do so again in this world? Teachers will you teach as though you will never teach again? Christians will speak as though you are speaking your last words? If this characterized our lives as Believers, would the world not be turned upside down in complete and utter shock and confusion, resulting in an awe for the God we serve who has given us such a living hope?
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