Only one life, it soon will pass.
Only what's done for Christ will last.
A brother in Christ had a chat with me. He was talking about making full use of God-given talents. His reasoning went like this: God blessed us with particular talents. Therefore, we glorify him the most when we utilise our talents to the fullest. So if I had musical talent, it would be the right thing to do to make a career out of it and play in front of a stadium full of concert goers. If my talent were in writing, then I should glorify God by writing the great Singaporean novel. If I were a brilliant doctor, I should spend my time finding the cure to cancer. If making money comes naturally to me, then I should maximise my earning potential and funnel the money to good causes and to the church. Being the best I can be would glorify God the most.
Makes sense? I'm not so sure. I think that the values of the world have permeated our beliefs to the point where we think we hear God speaking to us when actually, it's the seductive whisper of the world at large. Consider this: it is deemed entirely reasonable for everyone to pursue a career that accords the best earning power and the most opportunities for advancement. But this is often done at the expense of God, faith, spouse and children.
For me particularly, I do not want to be so caught up with the world that I have little time left for God's kingdom and also for my wife and children. Let me quote from Elisabeth Elliot:
Amen to that. I want to spend my energy on things of eternal value and to walk away from things that will be destroyed. If this means being a fool in the eyes of the world, then I'll be a fool for Christ. (1 Corinthians 4:10).It is sad to read that the average father nowadays spends three minutes per week with each child. Home, frankly, is just "not his scene." He'd rather be elsewhere. What does he do with the rest of his time? It is a relentless frantic scramble to earn money five or six days a week, with a frantic scramble on the weekends to "relax" and enjoy himself, often in expensive and sometimes dangerous ways? Can this be really what God wants for Christian families? If there were the willingness to be content with less money, fewer activities which eat into the budget and take the family away from home; fewer possessions; if there were the willingness to be "content with such things as you have," would we not sooner find the truth of God's Word, "A man's real life in no way depends upon the number of his possessions" (Luke 12:14 Phillips). The willingness to be and to have just what God wants us to be and to have, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else, would set our hearts at rest, and we would discover that the simpler the life the greater the peace. - (The Shaping of a Christian Home, pg. 88)
