Pastor Ben’s Ponderings

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit;’ whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’”         (James 4:13-15)

Gospel songwriters have been accused of writing songs mainly about 2 topics: getting saved and going to heaven. The reason for that is that once a person finds a valid answer to  the big questions, “Why am I here?” And “Where am I going?” The rest of life can be lived with meaning and direction. The daily stuff that tends to be in our faces can gain some perspective, and the great songs encourage that:

“Farther along, we’ll know all about it; Farther along, we’ll understand why.
Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine, We’ll understand it all by and by.”

“But, until then, my heart will go on singing;
Until then with joy I’ll carry on!
Until the day my eyes behold the city,
Until the day god calls me home.”

When the big issues of life are settled, we can live the rest of life. We can live like we’ve got nothing to lose. But what would that look like today, if we knew this was close to our last day? Where would I wish I had taken my family if I knew I was leaving this world today? What letter would I write? What would I do with my bank account or my time schedule or the energy I have today? Whom would I invite to dinner; to whom would I offer the guest room or a ride to church or a trip to the grocery store? Whom would I take on a fishing trip or a shopping trip or a cruise? Where would I volunteer my skills, my expertise, my hours, my knowledge, if I knew my time was running out?

The beauty of the Christ-centered life is that we do know that time on this earth is limited and that nothing else except the relationships we treasure and nurture will survive this life or time itself. We also know that beyond time there is more — much more — and the quality of that “more” depends on the soul investment we make today.