A man I have great respect for, and whose life has touched untold numbers of people around the world, addressed our congregation this week on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. He reminded us how easy it is to move through life without clearly focussing on how much time we have left. His observation was that it isn’t till most people hit fifty that they begin to think about their legacy.
When I was a student pastor in my early twenties, someone gave me a little tract which started with the rhyme, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past/ only what’s done for Christ will last.” Somehow the Holy Spirit arrested me in that moment, and from then on I sought all the more to live with eternity in view.
What that has meant for me is an effort to keep my eyes on what my purpose is in life. Why has God put me here? What is it he wants to do specifically with me? How does what I’m doing now fit into that? Asking those questions has a way of ordering your priorities, and so it should.
All of us, without exception, must attend to the daily responsibilities of life. Yet even those are chisels God will use to build the kind of character qualities he needs in order to use us to accomplish the purposes he has for us.
Years ago, my great aunt Phoebe, who loved the Lord with all her heart, lay dying in the hospital, at peace as she awaited the Lord’s call. We left the hospital and went to pick something up at a shopping mall. I remember being struck at how many people were going about life without any awareness of their eternal destiny. The wealth of our society blinded them to the true realities of eternity, life and death.
The tragedy is that many Christians live not much differently. The priest known as Brother Lawrence wrote a book telling us how to live ordinary moments doing ordinary things in God’s presence. My wife calls this the laundry principle. Most of us can’t be bothered to seek God in the ordinary. Yet maybe if we learned to seek God in the daily routine it would become for us the doorway into something much deeper. Those who are faithful in a little will be granted a lot. I have the truth of that on the very best authority.
Your life is significant. Don’t let the world or the devil tell you otherwise. Every new day is an opportunity to work on the investment you are making into eternity. Looking after your kids is making that investment. Working a factory job is making that investment. Serving at church is making that investment. Reaching out to your neighbours is making that investment.
Don’t be like Absalom, who built a monument for himself. Spend your life building a monument for Jesus. That monument is not made of stone, but of the lives you have touched for Christ. A lot of it you won’t even know about until you enter his presence.
No matter your age, now’s a good time to ask God to help you fix your eyes on why he has put you here. From the perspective of eternity, all our lives will be over soon.
Today is a good time to begin turning your life into a legacy.
CONSIDER PARTNERING WITH DAVID & ELAINE CAMPBELL IN HELPING TO SUSTAIN THEIR ACTIVE MINISTRY.
AWAKENING MINISTRIES // FOUNDATION of FAITH Project
Foundation of Faith Project is strengthening generations in faith and bringing beautiful changes to the communities around them. Through teaching, mentoring and coaching, many are finding out who they are and who they are destined to be. They are bringing more to their world. David Campbell is the key leader in this initiative and you can support him financially directly through Awakening Ministries.
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