What Have You Done that Will Last?

I built a gate out of wood recently. It is very apparent after only a week of existence that this gate has a limited life. The wood, which looked straight and true in the store, was wet. After a few days in the hot sun it warped. I console myself with the thought “It’s only temporary. I’ll come up with something better in the future.” But the future of this particular gate is certain—it will not last.

Several months ago my hard drive crashed. The computer technician looked at me and asked, “Is your stuff backed up?” I answered with a certain pride that I backed up my data automatically each week. Everyone knows that’s what a tech savvy person does. When I went to restore my files I found that my back up had not backed up the majority of ten years worth of work. For a few moments I thought I was in cardiac arrest. The even greater tragedy of the whole experience came when I realized how little my life had changed after losing all the material I had once considered so valuable. Life went on and very little changed. Apparently my work was not meant to last.

It is a humbling thing to look at our lives and realize that the vast majority of what we give our very best to will not last even the length of our life time. It either breaks, gets lost, becomes outdated or it loses its relevance.

There is a saying, “You can’t take it with you.” That’s only partially true. No, you can’t take your money or stocks or car with you into the afterlife. We must leave that all behind. But you will take the people you influenced for Christ with you. And you will spend eternity with them in the presence of the Lord. Do you think about life that way? Are you giving your best to what will last? Or are you too tired, too busy to lead others to Christ while you give your best efforts to stuff you’re going to give up anyway? Life is going fast. How do you want to spend it?