What If You Knew You Were Going To Die?
There would be a whole myriad of things starting to go through our minds. We would find that we must prioritize the things most important to us because of the sudden limitation of time. I am almost certain that our thoughts would move away from things of this natural world, that of money, possessions, and stuff. I am relatively certain our thoughts would move towards focusing on relationships, and that of our family and friends who are dear and near to us. And certainly God’s perspective is that of developing relationships over accumulating stuff. After all, Jesus died (emptied Himself) so that He might establish an eternal relationship with us. Look at the following verses.
These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, (2) so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. (3) Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, promised you.
(4) Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (5) Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (6) These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. (7) Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. (8) Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. (9) Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
(10) When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, (11) houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, (12) be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
(13) Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. (14) Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; (15) for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. (16) Do not test the LORD your God as you did at Massah. (17) Be sure to keep the commands of the LORD your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you. (18) Do what is right and good in the LORD’s sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, (19) thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said. Deuteronomy 6:1-19
Notice in these verses that relationships come first. In verse (5), relationship with the Lord, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart. . . “, comes first. Then in verse (7), relationship with our family, “Impress them on your children”. What comes after our relationships being in proper order, is God’s blessings upon our lives. Notice the prosperity and the abundance of cities we did not build, houses filled with good things, wells we did not dig, and vineyards we did not plant.
Too many times as Christians, God’s own children, we seek the blessings rather than the one who is doing the blessing. Too many times we seek God’s hand, rather than God’s face, or God’s heart.
Similar verses are found in the Book of Haggai, chapter one:
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
(2) This is what the LORD Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the LORD’s house to be built.’”
(3) Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai: (4) “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
(5) Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. (6) You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.” (7) This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. (8) Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. (9) “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. (10) Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. (11) I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.”
Haggai 1:1-11
We clearly see that the Israelites were chastised because they were attending to their own needs and wants, rather than being in the process of rebuilding the temple. Notice in verse (5), the Lord says, “Give careful thought to your ways”.
Once we start paying more attention to the things in life (the stuff), instead of our relationship with the Lord, and our relationships with others; we will find ourselves on the “slippery slope of life”, and no good footing will we be able to find. Consider your ways. Grow in your relationship with God through Jesus Christ, and value your relationships with others.
The fact is, we are all dying (aging), and no one is guaranteed a tomorrow on this earth, with our physical body. The flesh is corrupt, and it will die. But we have a choice today, and every day of our lives. That choice is to grow in our relationship with Christ, nurture our relationships with others, and to focus less on the stuff. The stuff Jesus said the moth might eat, that rust might destroy, or that thieves might break in and steal, does not begin to compare with what Jesus has in mind for you. I Corinthians 2:9
Think like this:
Jesus – Others – Yourself
and you will always have:
J – O – Y
Michael R. Smith