This month one of my closet friend/comrad died and went to be with Jesus. I knew him 46 years and was close to him and his family. He taught me the Word like no one else and I learned how God would have us live with pain as I saw him bury his young son who died with Leukemia. He counseled me as I drifted out of the business world and into the Layman’s ministry. And more and more. I loved him dearly. My life is marked by him.

I picture him reporting to Christ and Christ noticed that He gave him 10 Mina at the start and now he is giving Jesus back 50 Mina. From the scriptures we can say Jesus comment will be “Well done, good a faithful servant”.

He taught me that our life is not about just cleaning up our act, it is preparing for Heaven and investing our life in the work of Christ.

Remember: We have one turn on earth and what we do with it will determine how we live in eternity.

This is what our blog is about this month. Title: Making your life count. I hope you will stop and think on these truths.

Gayle

Php 3:12 Not as though I had already attained
or were already perfect, but I am pressing on, if I may lay hold of that for which I also was taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Php 3:13  My brothers, I do not count myself to have taken possession, but one thing I do, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before,

Php 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment,

It is God’s plan that we should all die. We have a turn on earth and what we do with it will determine how we live in eternity. This is taught by Jesus and the Apostles.

From the Bible we can conclude that our life objective is not the cleaning up of our society. Historically, that pursuit or objective seems to always get off course and with our proposed “reforms”, society will dislike us more. Just think of Ecclesiastes and Solomon’s conclusion of all his efforts in the world. Do you think you are really smarter than the wisest man?

Ecc 1:14  I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecc 12:13-14  This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.  (14)  For God will bring every work into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

The question we must ask ourselves is…”If God met with me and told me I had 5 years left on my life”, what would I do with these years? How would I invest my few, short years? Would I change anything I am spending my life on? Since I am getting ready to spend eternity with God where should my focus be? How would I organize my life to be the most effective person for God? This was Hezekiah’s dilemma and he apparently failed.

I had heart surgery this year and it dawned on me that if I take care of myself I may last 5 more years. I will be glad to go to Heaven. I love to review the past but it is gone. I live in the present and my nose must be pointed toward Heaven. I am an Ambassador from a foreign country.

Eph 6:20  for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

A truth is…We will spend eternity with God and He is in control. Ergo, shouldn’t we be dominated in our thinking by, “What does God want me to do?”

We must always be recalibrating on this truth-question. Always trying to move forward with God and for God. Our reference point is the Word. Recalibration is mandatory and should be done no less than “frequent”.

Now being effective for God may not be your objective. But as a Christian it should be. Too many of us focus on having a good time, making money, exercising, i.e. becoming buff, chasing the opposite sex, improving ourselves with no reason, etc. But the bible suggests if you pursue these things you are wasting your time. You are spending your life and not investing it.

Do you have a sense of what God wants you to do now and in the near future with your turn on earth?

We live in a time when there are many facets available for serving God. I.e. local churches, foundations, parachurches, short term mission trips, layman’s ministry, etc. You will have no excuse before God at your judgement for not being in the work for Christ. Celebrate all expressions and get in the battle.

Do an inventory on your life. Focus yourself on the objective and constantly recalibrate where you are. The world will always pull you off course, so build your infrastructure to combat this.

Questions:

1. Are you in the game for God?
2. Are you strong and getting stronger in the Word?
3. Do you have accountability in your life?
4. Are you trying to correct or fix society with your Christianity? Is there any chance of success?
5. What is the most compelling hope in your life?
6. What are you going to show Christ when He asks you what you did with your “five talents”, Matt 25:14-30?
7. Have you learned how to live with a commitment to serve Christ and still live in the world effectively? Not easy.

Remember: We have one turn on earth and what we do with it will determine how we live in eternity

  As the Old Hymn says,
“My home is not on Earth, I
Am just passing through!”

These blogs are an attempt to articulate key biblical issues of our day so that we can

1. Learn and understand the propositions of the Bible concerning our life
2. We can apply the truth in our life in the sanctification process
3. Contend/defend against heresy or apostasy.
4. We can draw closer to God

We now have a Web site for the blog. Thanks to Mr. Mac Millan we are now modern era. Here are some facts on the site

1. The address is https://jacksonsjournal.com
2. No password is required
3. You may print any document.
4. If you want to correct one, you must first pass it past me.
5. I hope these bless you….Gayle