Can I ask you a question?
When you are 90 years old, sitting in your rocking chair and looking back, what will you say was most important about the life you lived? Think about that for a minute.
When lost people are asked this question, they almost universally answer, “what I did for my family.” When Christians are asked this question, they most often say, “what I did for my family and what I did for the Lord is what gives me fulfillment.”
You can watch the YouTube interviews and see. Almost no one ever says: “I wish I had spent more time at work. I wish I had bought a bigger house. I wish I had bought more cars. I wish I had made more money.” People overwhelmingly state that what gives life fulfillment is what they invested in others, and Christians say especially for the LORD.
Unfortunately, many Christians get sidetracked and chase short-term happiness instead of the everlasting riches that give fulfillment. This leaves those Christians feeling empty now, embarrassed at the Judgement Seat of Christ, and eternally poor in God’s Kingdom.
So, God instructs us:
“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:1-2).
“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).
The contrast is obvious.
Earthly happiness is temporary, fleeting, and often dependent on other people and events outside our control. We may be happy the day we get something new, but it often becomes meaningless and unfulfilling days or weeks later (think about the last car you bought). A life lived for earthly riches ends in emptiness.
Fulfillment, however, is forever. When we Christians invest in others eternally, we will never lose that joy. At 90 years old, we will be able to look back at the huge list of people who we have led to the Lord, discipled, counseled, and encouraged through our ministry. We also get to rejoice in the fruit that our disciples earn as they continue the 2 Timothy 2:2 chain of investment. A life dedicated to Christ is very fulfilling in this world and will be greatly rewarded for eternity.
So, the choice before us:
“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:11-12).
If we serve Christ with our lives now, we get to reign with Him FOREVER!
If not, we will sit on heaven’s sideline.
So, how do we adjust our hearts to have this right identity and life focus? The key: we must shed the desire for short-term earthly happiness and instead focus our lives on eternal fulfillment. We must put off the identity and goals of the lost world and embrace the mission of Christ. Our life focus must be about ministry, not money and stuff!
God especially emphasized this in what He wrote about the Laodicean church age in which we live:
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (Revelation 3:17-18).
So Christian, are you going to make yourself temporarily happy with riches now but then be eternally poor, or will you seek Godly fulfillment now and then be eternally rewarded by Christ?
The choice is yours.
Larry Smith is a teaching elder at Midtown Baptist Temple in Kansas City, MO.
