Monday, September 03, 2007

Labor Day

So today is Labor Day. As I spent the day not laboring, I started thinking. I started thinking, what is it that I'm laboring for? Why is it that I work? The initial answer that came to mind was so I can afford to have fun! In a way, this saddened me.

Am I living for only to be entertained?

The movies Braveheart, Gladiator, and Luther inspire me. I watch as men live for something great. They live to change the world they live in, even though it costs them as much as their own lives. At the end of the movie, I desire to live a life that will impact my world like that.

Somehow, being entertained just doesn't do that. It serves nobody but myself. And the truth is, I'm not happy with the service I've been getting.

Still, I'm afraid. I'm afraid of the cost of it. As disappointing as this self serving life is, it is comfortable. The question is now, which will I choose? A life of disappointed comfort or a life that costs me, even my own life?

One day Jesus was asked about God's Kingdom. In His reply, He told them that those who cling to their lives will find it slipping through their fingers, lost. And those who gave their lives freely would find it had been saved for them.* The truth is, living for God costs everything and nothing at the same time. It costs me everything this world has to offer now, but not living for God will cost me everything He has to offer forever. When I think of it that way, I find that I really don't have anything.

Now I want to challenge you. Are you living only to be comfortable? Will you be satisfied when you are old and lying on your death bed? Will you look back and see the times in your life when you could have lived to make a difference, made an impact for good in your world and lament you were too afraid or too comfortable? Or will you live such a life that even though it costs you dearly you will stand tall knowing that you have lived and your life has mattered?

Living for God is the only life that will make an eternal difference in this world. Let's really live.

*Check out Luke 17.

3 comments:

Roundtable Tea Company said...

Great Blog! Good to have you back on the web...

To loose our life in the cause of something better makes good sense, but what do we do to move beyond the words? I think many think this, wish they could be in the movie with the gladiator or Luther, but how do we get off the screen, out of fantasy and down to real life?

John (crossview)

Sandy Cathcart said...

I really enjoyed this post! Makes me take a fresh look at my own life.

Better check out what I've done to you Phil . . .
http://sandycathcartregistration.blogspot.com/

Sandy Cathcart said...

Phil!!!!!!!

It's been nearly 8 months! Get of the stick and get some more writing up here guy. We need a bit of encouragement!