"A Wasted Life"

Cover of Don't Waste Your LifeI don't normally use books other than THE Book in my blog. I have many sources of inspiration, but I rarely feel the need to repeat the thoughts verbatim because then it wouldn't be God's voice, it would be someone else's...or worse, it would be mine.

God doesn't use subtlety with me. He knows that I tend to ignore the hints, nudges, and gentle pushes; so I tend to get broadsided with messages from Above...and I get hit (lovingly...but with enough oomph that I have to take notice) at least twice from two or more different directions. This time the message came first from a book entitled "Don't Waste Your Life" by John Piper, and came around to whallop me again this morning in the Sermon at Crossing Church of Louisville (www.crossinglouisville.com).

You see, dear friends, I have been raised in a culture that believes that we should work hard for x number of years so that afterward you can kick up your feet on some cruise ship, or move to a seniors community somewhere snowplows have never even been heard of, and spend the last years of your life spending your savings on knick-knacks and discounted vacations. For most of America, this notion is the norm...and it is just fine, in their minds, thank you very much. But is that really it? You spend years working, struggling, saving, dreaming...just to play Bridge, take naps, and stare through your window at a pretty world you have no longer have a part in? Hmmmm...perhaps the words of Mr. Piper can paint the picture in a better light:

"An American Tragedy: How Not to Finish Your One Life

I will tell you what a tragedy is. I will show you how to waster your life. Consider a story from the February 1998 edition of Reader's Digest, which tells about a couple who "took an early retirement from their jobs in the Northeast five years ago when he was 59 and she was 51. Now they live in Punta Gorda, Florida, where they cruise on their 30 foot trawler, play softball and collect shells." At first, when I read it I thought it might be a joke. A spoof on the American Dream. But it wasn't. Tragically, this was the dream: Come to the end of your life - your one and only precious, God-given life - and let the last great work of your life, before you give and account to your Creator, be this: playing softball and collecting shells. Picture them before Christ at the great day of judgment: "Look, Lord. See my shells." That is a tragedy. And people today are spending billions of dollars to persuade you to embrace that tragic dream. Over against that, I put my protest: Don't buy it. Don't waste your life."

That passage really rocked my world. In seeing the mass migrations of my parents' generation and older towards the balmy and lackadaisical lifestyles of Boca and Baja, it never occured to me that these people were unwittingly selling out the last precious years of their life to a dream of no-impact inactivity. For non-believers, it's not a huge surprise that they devote their final years to a glorification of self and a spending spree on things they can't take beyond the grave. Unless God uses one of us to reach in and shake their snowglobe with the Gospel, they are headed to a much warmer destination and those trinkets and Pinochle matches will be their last memories of happier times. But for those of us who have received Christ - I mean really received Him in our hearts and been thoroughly changed because of it - the traditional concept of retirement should feel more like a straitjacket than a vacation. The Spirit within me begins to get antsy when I so much as contemplate sitting on a couch watching daytime TV and not writing, speaking, learning from, or teaching for Christ for one day. The threat of spending a decade or more like that makes the Spirit begin clawing at my heart until I can't take the agony of considering it anymore. 

After reading the passage, I highlighted it with the intention of sharing it with my circle of friends. And then I forgot about it. Until this morning when our pastor, Dustin Neeley, read Jesus' parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21):

Image by farlane via Flickr"16 Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. 17 He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ 18 Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. 19 And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

21 “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”"

This guy had worked to save up so much that he had to build new storehouses. And he assumed that the obvious reward for his hard work, not to mention the gifts of success and prosperity from God on high, would be to kick his feet up, grab a brew, and do nothing...NOTHING. No thanksgiving to God, no teaching his progeny (if he had any) how to be as successful, nothing. Sounds ludicrous to me. Even God calls him a "fool." But how many of us grew up believing that retirement meant just that, living out the final years with no obligations other than have fun for as long as we kept on breathing? "Fools." And I was one of them. 

Here's the point to this post: when you retire from whatever occupation God has led you to, do NOT throw in the towel. Do NOT move to Florida and play Canasta all day. Do NOT blow your life's savings on souvenirs and Snuggies. DO NOT WASTE YOUR LIFE! Give to your community. Use your God-given gifts to grow His Kingdom. Let the last words out of your mouth on your death bed be "one more, I want to bring You one more, Lord."  Invest in the efforts to reach the generations to come with the Holy Word of God. Pray. DO something. DO anything. And do it all for Christ, our Savior, who will give you the strength and ability to accomplish all you set out to do within His will for His glory. 

I'm not going to Boca. I'm going to Heaven. And I'm going to do everything within my calling to make sure that I take as many people with me as I possible can.

Image by Glen's Pics via FlickrLet us pray: 

Holy God, You have charged us with joining our brothers and sisters in Christ on a worldwide Gospel spreading campaign. You have said that the second Advent won't come until the name of Jesus has been heard in every corner of the world. And since we long to see you, face to face, we want to do everything we can to make sure the Gospel keeps moving. Lord, let our lives be lived in joyful servitude that doesn't stop at 65, or 67, or ever. Please God, help us to see that "free time" as a chance to dedicate even more of ourselves to Your cause. Let us spend our latter years on Mission so that we can bring to you souls, instead of mere shells. Use us, Lord. And when we grow weary, when we just want to rest, let us find our only rest in You. May you forever use us, Father, to serve You the way the Spirit leads us in order to bring news of salvation through Your Son to the ends of the earth. In the matchless name of Jesus, we pray, Amen.