How are you Spending your One and Only Life?

How are you spending your one and only life? Eternity is a long time.

Years ago, our country was split into two parts, the North and the South. Imagine an individual living in the south knew for a fact that the south was going to lose the war. He knew that a new era was coming so confederate dollars that he had stockpiled would soon be utterly irrelevant. Imagine that this individual lived on the northern most side of the confederate states, quite close to the north. In an effort to prepare for the future, an individual living in a confederate territory would be wise to make trips north, exchanging his current confederate dollars into union dollars. The most intelligent thing for that individual living in the south, at the time of the Civil War, to do would be to realize that his riches in confederacy currency would soon be utterly irrelevant. He would be wise to systematically and thoughtfully transition those dollars into a type of currency that would last in the new era. In the same way, wouldn’t it be wise if we understood that the money, time, and resources we have are spent exclusively on this life and on this earth? We would be fools to not think ahead to our future reward.

How are you spending your one and only shot at this thing we call life? It’s rather scary, but also inspiring to consider that we have one life to live. We don’t get a re-do. We don’t get second chances. There’s no mulligan on the golf course called life. One shot is all we are given. The question we should be asking ourselves is, “am I spending my one and only life in a way that will reflect the reward that I desire to have forever and ever?”

Eternity is a long time, a super long time. So long in fact, that when we put our minds towards the concept of forever we can actually freak out a little bit. As a person of faith, I need to consider that this current life is the work zone that will influence the reward that I will be spending and experiencing (or not) forever. Knowing this, if we are aware that eternity is coming, and the quality of our eternity is dependent on how we spend our one and only life right now, wouldn’t we be compelled to spend it in a very thoughtful fashion?

We need to view our one and only life as an opportunity to lay up treasure in heaven. How are you spending your one and only life? Are you spending this life on kingdom values, or are you stockpiling for the things of this earth? Will you spend your life as a minister of the gospel, taking a road that is less traveled for the sake of the gospel? If you are, be confident that you are laying up treasure that will not rust, that moths will not eat, and one that will be timeless for your eternity. Remember, eternity is a long time.