Don't Foolishly Waste
Your Life!
By David J. Stewart | March
2014
James 4:14,
“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life?
It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then
vanisheth away.”
I once knew a Christian man (I won't mention his name) who commit suicide in
the late 1990's. He was about 40 years old. The woman that he was engaged to
ran off with some other guy and married him. The guy was devastated. The man
was also in debt. I received word one day that he had killed himself. From
time-to-time I think about the man, as today, thinking about all the things
he could be doing for God if he were still alive. The man was perfectly
healthy. It's so sad.
I sometimes imagine him up in Heaven, reminiscing over all the things he
could of, should of, and would of done had he not commit suicide. I know
he's kicking himself, realizing that he could have been witnessing the
gospel to the lost, giving money to struggling missionaries who are
faithfully sowing the seed of the gospel throughout the world, and helping
others to find Christ. The Bible teaches that a living dog is better than a
dead lion. Ecclesiastes 9:4, “For to him that is joined to all the
living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.”
When applied to a spiritual application, Solomon is telling us that when our
life is over so also is our opportunity to serve God.
That's why Solomon sums up the book of Ecclesiastes with the exhortation to
fear and obey God. Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for
this is the whole duty of man.” Solomon further states .
. .
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12, “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race
is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the
wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of
skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not
his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that
are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when
it falleth suddenly upon them.”
Keep in mind that Solomon is speaking from the
perspective of a worldly man who had everything this sinful world has to
offer (fame, women, wealthy, power) but he COULDN'T find satisfaction, just
like Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones sings. Solomon had 700 wives and 300
concubines. He inherited literally tens-of-billions of dollars in gold (by
today's standards) to build the temple of God. Solomon had anything and
everything that a worldly man could want, but he was miserable knowing that
it all couldn't last. It wasn't until toward the end of his life that
Solomon wised-up (no pun intended) and concluded that serving God is all
that really matters in life. Ecclesiastes 12:1, “Remember
now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days
come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure
in them.”
I wonder how many Christian believers up in
Heaven are disgusted with themselves, looking back in hindsight to their
selfish life on earth, never having done anything for the cause of Christ.
Have you witnessed to anyone lately? Have you invited anyone to church? Have
you prayed for your local pastor, church congregation and your church's
missionaries on the foreign field? Have you donated money to the work of
God? I WOULDN'T stay in a Baptist church that doesn't support missionaries for
another day. How can we obey The Great Commission if we don't send out
and/or support missionaries? WE CANNOT!!!
This is
why some Christian believers have given away their business, sold large
possessions, cashed out their 401K retirements or donated the money from the
sale of their home (like Ananias and Sapphira did in Acts 5:1-10). They had
an excellent spirit at first in desiring to give their wealth to the work of
the Lord, but then then reneged behind the scenes on their agreement My
friend, you cannot keep anything that you own here upon the earth. You will
die soon and your home will be given to another. You will pass away, likely
sooner than you think, and all your toys and worldly possessions will be
taken by someone else.
Jim
Elliot believed the Scriptures, counted the cost of what he was doing for
the Lord, and decided to invest everything in Heaven instead of earth.
Missionary Jim Elliot risked all, gave all and paid all. The natives
savagely murdered him and his four co-labourers. As a result of Jim Elliot's
testimony, countless missionaries have been encouraged, blessed and inspired
around the world over the past 58-years since his brutal murder in 1956. Jim
was only 28 years old!
You and
I could be dead by sundown. There are places that we'd all love to visit,
things that we'd all love to do, ambitions that we'd all love to pursue, but
there's just not enough time in life to do them all. I've always wanted to
live in Hawaii and play music in a music group or band. I love lap and pedal
steel guitar, slack key guitar and tenor ukulele. I could play music where I
live, for money each night, if I desired, but I don't for numerous reasons:
1) one being my
damaged spinal cord in my neck, which causes continually pain (both
toothache-like pain in my neck, and razorblade-like pain radiating down into
my arms and legs;
2) and also because the world is so wicked these days that
everything is associated with beer and fornication). I am content to serve
my Lord by living a simple life.
I've
never been to Las Vegas, Disney World, or all the tourist attractions that
the world drools after. I'm just waiting for Jesus! I wanted to vomit
recently when I heard a TV commercial. I don't have TV myself, but I saw
the commercial somewhere that I can't recall. The husband and wife were
frustrated that they could only take ONE vacation to Florida instead of TWO
per year. Aw, poor babies! It makes me sick to see just how spoiled we Americans really are.
I saw some home-buying show last year on TV
where some spoiled brat around 30-years of age didn't like the 6,000 square
foot home that the realtor was showing her, because she said it was TOO
SMALL for her 350 lb. fat posterior butt!!! AMERICANS GET WHAT THEY DESERVE!
Nearly everyone's becoming obese, dumbed down, spaced-out on psychotropic
drugs, fluoridated, radiated from cellphones, distracted with all the
handheld gadgets and toys, addicted to society's vices galore these days, et
cetera. America is weaker than ever before in every way. We are like a sick
body whose immune system is not working, like someone infected with the
H.I.V. virus, waiting for it to become full-blown AIDS! America's ROOT
problem is that we have forsaken the Word of God.
I hope
the Lord Jesus returns soon!!! I'm not looking for the undertaker, I'm
looking for the UPPERTAKER! Bless God! Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The
Rapture could come today!!! Glory to God!
God Promises To Profit Our
Eternal
Investments 10,000%
That's exactly what the Bible teaches in
Matthew 10:30... A “HUNDREDFOLD” . . .
Mark 10:30, “But he shall receive an hundredfold
now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and
children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal
life.”
If you
invest $1000 and it profits AN HUNDREDFOLD (times 100), that computes to a
whopping $100,000!!! No Stock Market or even Future's contract could yield
that type of drastic windfall profits so assuredly. There is NO RISK when
you invest in the things of the Kingdom of God. God's PROMISE is 100%
guaranteed. The Lord commands each and every believer in Matthew 6:19-20 not
to lay up earthly treasures; but rather, to lay up treasures FOR YOURSELVES
in Heaven, where nothing can happen to cause loss of them.
Why We Should All Give To
MISSIONARY WORK!
Every New Testament Church should support missionaries. Since
churches are composed of individual born-again believers, then every
individual Christian ought to support missionaries as well. We ought
to have a GLOBAL, REGIONAL (Acts 13:4; 2nd Corinthians 8:5) and
LOCAL vision. Acts 1:8, “But ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto
me both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto
the uttermost part of the earth.”
Matthew 4:19, “And he saith unto
them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
The Word of God ought to ignite a passion in every Christian
believer to surrender ourselves to the Lord, and instill a passion
for investing in missions work by giving. Acts 13:4, “So
they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto
Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.” 2nd Corinthians
8:5, “And this they did, not as we hoped, but first
gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the
will of God.” When you pray for missionaries and
give financially to support their work, that makes you a co-laborer
together with them in the Lord. God will reward you as if you were
on the mission field yourself. Mark 9:41, “For whosoever shall
give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to
Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.”
*Make sure that you only donate to genuine
Christian missionaries who are obeying The Great Commission, like
BIMI (Baptist International
Missions, Inc) and not a
scam fat-cat charity that
pays it's executives 6-digit salaries!
We are not as generous as what we give; but rather, what we keep
for ourselves! Think about that! When we give to God, we are really
just letting go of what is already His. Oh, how we ought to give to
God. May we graduate from spiritual preschool and start praying at
length in IMPORTUNITY FOR OTHERS, and may we give sacrificially to
the work of Christ, even selling our personal belongings to do so,
supporting missionaries who are faithfully preaching the gospel.
I like BIMI a lot because they have field directors that monitor
the missionaries, helping them and making sure that God's money is
used wisely, effectively and honestly. I wouldn't give a dime to any
ministry which is not held accountable financially. An independent
audit is NOT acceptable, as many auditing companies are corrupt. I
look at the missionaries themselves and what God is accomplishing on
the mission field THROUGH THEM for Jesus Christ. I DON'T like IBM's
Statement of Faith, but I DO believe that their missionaries are
being used of God to obey The Great Commission. There are no perfect
churches, church members, pastors, missionaries or missionary
boards; but thanks be to God that we DO have a perfect Savior, Jesus
Christ the PERFECT and SINLESS Lamb of God!!! Thank you God!!!
The loneliest place in the world is the human heart if there is
no love. The way to truly be rich is to help somebody else...
“Missionary zeal
does not grow out of intellectual beliefs, nor out of theological
argument, but out of love.”
—Roland
Allen
65% Of
120,000,000, Citizens In Japan Don't Believe In God
[less than .05% (500,000) people profess to have any faith at all in Jesus
Christ)]. Japan greatly needs the Lord!
237 countries,
7 billion people,
2/3 have yet to hear!
Baptist International Missions Philippine
Typhoon Relief Fund (1900 church buildings
destroyed!)
“If [God] has work for me to do, I cannot die.”
―Henry Martyn, Journal and Letters of Henry Martyn
Faith Children's Village In Zambia, Africa
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