“If you had to stand before God today, would everything be okay?”
Reading through the stories Jesus told, it is hard to get away from the fact that God cares about how we spend our life.
Matthew 25:14-30- Jesus tells a story about a Master that gives his servants bags of gold. When the master returns from a long journey, he expects them to have done something with their gold. Modern day translation, Jesus expects us to do something with our life.
Luke 12:13-21- Jesus tells a story about a rich man that decides to stop working, set aside his money, and live a greedy and “easy” life. That very night the rich man dies and has to answer to God. Again, it seems like Jesus is saying the way we spend our time and money matters.
Luke 12:35-40- Jesus tells his disciples to be ready for His return like servants waiting for the return of their master in the middle of the night: awake, expectant, and making the most of every opportunity.
Why would a good God go to such great lengths to warn us about how we spend our time? Because, if we spend our days focusing on our own plan, we will arrive at the end of our life miserable, broken, and followed by a trail of broken relationships. No amount of money can fix that.
God has greater plans in store for us than we could ever imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Once we understand life is short, and Jesus REALLY cares how we live, it changes everything in these 3 areas:
1. Time
The way we spend our time today determines what our life looks like tomorrow. What if we filtered every decision through the lens of loving God and loving others (Matthew 22:36-40)? When we make decisions about how to spend our time we are making decisions about what we find valuable. We are all given the same amount of time per day. Will we use our time to bring us closer to Jesus or further away? Will we look for opportunities to serve others or make it all about us?
2. Money
It's all His. God owns everything, including the money in our wallets. All things are from Him and for Him. So, how are you handling God’s money? When we know time is short and we can’t take anything with us, we will feel the freedom to be a lot more generous. Generosity leads to joy. Selfish people never have enough money, and generous people never run out (2 Corinthians 9:6).
3. Relationships
Jesus set the standard on how we should treat others (Philippians 2:3-8). If we are following His model, it changes the way we treat those around us. We can be quicker to forgive, more patient, and more humble.
The bottom line is this: when we realize that life is short and God wants the best for us, it completely changes the way we live. Don’t waste what little time you have by focusing on yourself. God created you for so much more than that. God created you to live a life of joy, focusing on loving Him and loving others. Live radically. Live like life is short.
