Live with the End in View

My parents both died at a relatively early age. They were both diagnosed with cancer and given four months to live, and they both died almost to the day the doctor predicted. They also shared something else that was similar. During the last few weeks of their lives, my mom and dad both asked me to take them on a road trip to significant places in their lives. They had me drive them to their favorite hamburger joint where we enjoyed a final meal together. We drove to their childhood homes. But most of all, they wanted to visit places where they felt that they had made a lasting difference. My mom had me drive her to the high school where she had invested 30 years of her life, pouring into the lives of her students. My dad had me drive him to our church, First Baptist Dallas, where he had joined first, then my mom, and then all of our family. Our church was one of the last places he wanted to come because he had left a legacy here.

I’ve often wondered, if I got the news that I only had a few months to live, what sites would I go to visit where I felt like I had made an eternal difference? After I’m gone, where would I want my children and grandchildren to say, “That’s where my dad, or my grandad, made a lasting difference”? What about you? When that time comes for you, where could you point to and say you made a difference for eternity? People who leave lasting legacies live with the end in view.

God has written in indelible ink on His calendar the day of your death. Psalm 139:16 says, “In Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” All your days are already written in God’s book, and every second that passes moves you closer to the date of your departure. What kind of legacy will you leave when that day comes?

The best use of your life right now is to spend it on something that will outlast it. Serve God faithfully. Invest in God’s work. And determine how to multiply your influence for the kingdom of God. When the time comes for God to call you home, if you have successfully passed the baton of faith to the next generation, then the work of God will continue long after you have departed.

Questions for Thought

1. When that time comes for you, where could you point to and say you made a difference for eternity?
2. What will you commit to invest over the next two years on Commitment Sunday, November 4, to add to that legacy at First Baptist Dallas? Pray about it together as a family and as a Sunday School class. Let’s pray for a great victory on November 4.