the only thing that is going to last…

GOD says you need to focus on love because the only thing that’s going to last in your life is love.  everything else is eventually going to burn up.  it’s going to decay, fall apart. 1 corinthians 13.13 (nlt), there are three things that will endure: faith, hope and love.  and the greatest of these is love. 

we think it’s our achievements people are going to remember.  i hate to tell you this but nobody’s going to remember your achievements.  remember all those trophies you got in little league or drama club, speech club, bowling trophies.  they’re all going to be trashed.  people don’t really care about your accomplishments.  we know this.  we just forget it. 

in watching people in the closing moments of their life i’ve never had one person say, “bring me my diplomas!  i want to look at them one more time….  get me that gold watch i got for twenty-five years of service!  show me my awards.  show me my medals.”  what do we want around us when our life is ending?  people.  people who love us.  people who have a relationship with us. 

here’s the point: you are eventually going to figure out in your final seconds that what matters are relationships.  so why don’t you figure it out sooner?  the only thing that matters is relationships.  when you get to heaven GOD is not going to say, “now what was your career?  what did you accomplish in it?  GOD is not going to say, “can i see your bank balance and how much you’ve got in your stocks and bonds portfolio.”  GOD is not going to say, “by the way, what about the hobbies that you enjoyed while i put you down on earth?” 

what HE’s going to say is, “how did you treat other people when you were here on earth?”  read matthew 25. 

now i suggest that from this day forward for the rest of your life when you wake up in the morning, you set down on the edge of the bed and before you get off that bed you pray this prayer, “GOD, whether i get anything else done today and i may not get anything else done, but i want to make sure today i spend some time loving you and loving other people,” because that’s what life is all about.  if you miss that you have missed the point of life, and that day is a failure, that day is a waste.  why should GOD give you any other day if you wasted this one?

the greatest use of life is not achievement.  it’s love.  the problem is we get busy and we forget what we intuitively know.  GOD’s first law of relationships is the best use of life is love. 

just a thought from the front porch…