Only One Life

                                                                                                                                                   

Aloha Dearest Family,

                We will start today’s sharing with a parable from Jesus.

                

                     “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21)

I have heard this parable taught numerous times and always thought it was a great story and good instruction for one’s life. So I filed it away in my brain amongst the many teachings I have heard over the years . . . until I was listening to a sermon on my way to work. The preacher told a story about the son of a missionary who went far away to study his chosen field of engineering. When he was almost finished with his studies, he suddenly came down with a rare disease. The doctor came into his room and told him that he had only about a year to live. This was devastating news and crushed the man’s hopes and his dream of a career as an engineer. But just then he received a letter from his father. Now, this story took place in a time when it took months to get a letter to a far-off country. The father had no way of knowing of the son’s fatal disease. When the son opened the letter, he read the words of his father that said, *“Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” At this point the son re-dedicated his life to Jesus Christ and promised to live for Him from now on.

                

             It was at this time that I thought about the man in the parable. He had spent so much time and energy gathering for himself that he had forgotten what was really important. Even though he was physically rich, he was not rich toward God.

 

                The longer I live and learn I have come to realize that we only have a certain amount of time here on this earth (duh). I have come to understand that the things we should invest our energies toward should be the things of God. In the end, these are the only things that will really matter and endure. Now I am absolutely NOT saying that you can’t work and thrive in your chosen field and succeed. This is what God wants, too. But we must remember that being rich in this life is found not in the things that one has, but what impact we have made in the lives of others the rewards that God has in store for us. We only have a short amount of time in order to do good for God.

                One of our family traditions each Christmas season is to watch the movie Scrooge starring Allistair Sim as Ebeneezer Scrooge. In the movie there is a scene where Scrooge’s partner, Jacob Marley, is on his death bed. When Ebeneezer Scrooge bends his head to hear Jacob’s last words, he hears “wrong, we were wrong”. At the end of his life, Jacob Marley finally realized that he had been wrong in the way he treated people; that he had been wrong in just living for himself. But now it was too late. I would hate to wait until the end of my life to realize that I could have done more.

                In Ephesians 2 it states that God has prepared good works to do each day.

                

              “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)

God has prepared good works for us to do in our life. If we walk with God He can direct us in what He wants us to do. It may be to speak to someone about God, or give someone some money, or simply show kindness to someone. God has specific good works that He has for each of us to do. All we have to do is have a willing heart and to love people. After all, isn’t this what Jesus Christ wanted for his followers to do? Love. Also the good works that we do today can earn us crowns and rewards in the future. When Jesus Christ comes back we will receive the rewards we have earned in this life. These we can enjoy forever.

                I think God’s people forget who they are and become too involved with what the world can give them. Now there is nothing wrong with possessions, but our main focus in life should be asking ourselves “What can I do for God today?”

                “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them…The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” (I John 2:15 and 17) 

The worldly matters of this life will one day pass away. The only things that will last are what you have done for God and the continuance of all He has set in motion. I don’t need to tell you just how amazing it will be. 

                Finally, God has given each of us certain gifts - specific talents and abilities to use to minister to the body of Christ. What your gift or ministry is will be between you and the Father and it usually is practiced based on the needs of the believers around you but each one is vital to the work of the ministry, for the building up of the church of God. This should be our main focus in life.

             Remember we only have a certain amount of time on this earth. Let us use that time wisely and use it do the good works that God has prepared for us to do.

                                                Love Always, Ray  

  

*(For the entire poem, look up Only One Life by C.T. Studd).