Is my life a waste?
What am I doing?
Where do I fit in?
Could it all be for nothing?
What is my pupose?
Have you ever had these thoughts? Have you ever sat down and really thought about where you are putting your time and energy? Where your heart lies?
Have you ever thought about what people would say at your funeral? What you will be remembered for?
Well, I have.
And I've come to one realization. That if one truth in my life is wrong, my life is a joke. My life is wasted. And that's exactly how I want it.
I want my life so centered on the life of Christ, that if Jesus turns out to be just a myth, my life was wasted. Now with this thought, I have a long ways to go. I still have a lot I need to surrender to Jesus and a lot more I can do for Him while I'm here, but I'm willing to accept that challenge. I would rather have a life some would say is wasted on Jesus, than a life which no one will remember 10 years after I'm gone. Here's how I see it...
My grandparents are two of my best friends. But the amount I know about my grandparent's life is not as much as I would like. And the amount I know about my great-grandparents is even less. I don't know if they were champion athletes, great friends, amazing cooks, beautiful dancers, brillant writers, or just quiet folk who stayed at home. I have no idea. Things like that fade away quickly. People forget. People move on with their own lives and forget to talk about you.
"Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God." (Isaiah 40:28)
Everlasting God.
We are temporary. We are here for just awhile and then gone (James 4:14). And in the midst of the great big world and the 7 billion other people on this planet, the chances of anyone remembering me past my grandkids is slim. That's sort of depressing, isn't it? You can see how it can be so easy for our lives to feel like a waste? But don't forget...
Everlasting God.
So how do we make our lives not be a waste? We live for Him and Him alone. And though no one will remember my name, I can leave a legacy in my family that was started well before me. I can leave a legacy of loving and serving the Lord. Decades down the road in my lineage, my family could still be believing in Jesus because of the love my grandkids had, the love my children had, the love I had, the love my parents had, the love my grandparents had, great-grandparents and so on. That thought alone makes me want to cry and thank God for the opportunity. But then add to it the people we can love outside our family. The people we can tell about Jesus and show His love in a tangible way to. Those people could start a legacy in their families as well, all because you lived a life for God!
So my life is a waste, uh? The majority of my time and energy goes into serving. I spend my time loving kids, creating devotions, hanging out with "the least of these," leading or participating in Bible studies, being in leadership in ministries, and studying to create a life which helps others. Now make no mistake, I don't say those things to boast in my abilities. In my mind, I'm actually missing the mark and I could do so much more. I say these things to show you and remind myself that if this "Jesus thing" is fake, if it turns out to be a big joke, my life is a total and complete waste of time. Everything I do and put my time into would be for nothing. I'm banking my entire life and the future of my family to come that God came down in the form of man, died on a cross for my sins, and is now very much alive.
When I die, no one will remember me. But I hope everyone who thinks of me, immediately thinks of Christ. And if that happens, my life is not a waste.
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