Monday, September 22, 2014

Are you wasting your life?

Every day we find ourselves doing the same things over and over. We get up, eat, go to work (or stay home and work), take care of our families and homes, watch a little tv, go to bed and maybe read a verse or two of the Bible in there somewhere. Then we do it all over again. In a lifetime we spend the first 18+ years worrying about school and what we want to do with our lives, only to spend the next 30+ years working at a job we hate, retire and die.

Now, I'm pretty sure the people who read this do not hate their jobs (I think we all have the same job-MOM) but think about people in general. How many people do you know who are basically just existing? They live life because they have to. They don't know what their purpose is. They are just doing what we and millions of people do every day and have done every day for a long time now. As humans we always want more. We are consumed with having the biggest house, nicest cars, lots of "toys" (camper, boat, ATV, etc), making sure our kids get good jobs, making sure we are popular with people, preparing for our retirement and so on.

Do you know what the Bible says about that? More specifically what the wisest man that ever lived besides Jesus says about that?

Ecclesiastes 1
1 The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem.

2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

3 What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?

4 One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.

It is pointless. All of it. If it isn't profiting the Kingdom of God, it is being done in vain.

The preacher at the church we have been attending (this might be the one!) preached on this Wed. Of course I have heard it before. We all have. This time it is really sticking with me. I can't stop thinking about it. How much of what I do on a daily basis is filled with vanity? A lot if you think about it. How much of what I do on a daily basis is building God's kingdom and not mine? Not much. As Christians we should know what our purpose on this earth is. How much of what we do daily in a whole lifetime has to do with our true purpose?

What I realized this weekend is that I don't want my kids growing up thinking they need to have a high paying jobs to be happy or thinking life's purpose is all the things we do for ourselves on earth. I want them to know that their purpose, once saved, is building GOd's kingdom. Of course they will have to have jobs, go to the grocery store, clean their house, have a car but is that stuff really what's important? I don't want them looking at my life and thinking that is what counts. I want every decision they make to start with the question "What does God want me to do here?" or "How is this going to build God's kingdom and not mine?"

All that starts with us parents. Is your life filled with vanity of vanities? I don't want my life to be!

1 comment:

  1. Good post, and I couldn't agree more!
    "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31

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