Life Is Short Make It Count

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life is short make it count

TEXT: 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.”

INTRODUCTION

A while back I heard a motto that has never left me.

In fact, I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t think about it.

maybe not word for word but the concept of it at least

And the concept of this motto is what I want to preach on this morning

this little motto in one phrase gives us what should be the whole GOAL and PURPOSE of the Christian life.

The motto goes like this: “Only one life, ’twill soon be past; only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Perhaps you’ve heard it before.

I’d like us to ponder that little motto today.

This motto tells me three things about my life and yours.

So what I would like to do is to dissect it and see what we can learn

I. IT BEGINS WITH “ONLY ONE LIFE…” – THIS TELLS US THAT OUR LIFE IS SINGLE.

The first modern missionary from America, Adoniram Judson, said this:

You have but one life in which to prepare for eternity. Had you four or five lives, two or three of them might be spent in carelessness. But you have only one. Every action of that one life gives coloring to your eternity. How important, then, that you spend that life so as to please the Savior.

Those are profound words.

this life you have is the only one you will EVER have, so…

* God help us to make it count for eternity.

* God help us to live our life for the things that count.

*God help us to spend our time doing things that make a difference in God's kingdom

I read of an assistant pastor who went to visit an old man who had lived his whole life in sin and selfishness.

He finally had came to the Lord in his sixties. When he was diagnosed with cancer,

Anyway This pastor went to visit him at his home shortly before his death.

The day That he was there the older man was in a reminiscent mood.

But The pastor said he didn't hear stories about “the good ’ole days”

like He had expected-to

instead It was more like a confessional.

The old man shared with his pastor how before he came to the Lord,

* he had neglected his family for his job;…

* how he had not been there for his children like he should have been;…

* how he had not trained up his children in the Lord, or even with any real character;…

* how he had missed out on opportunities to make his life count by doing good to others or serving God;

Instead he had lived for sin and pleasure and popularity and making money and accumulating material things.

The pastor said he could recall that during their conversation, the man suddenly grew very quiet.

Sensing some inner struggle, The pastor said that he too sat silently awaiting the man next words, pondering the things he had shared with him frankly not knowing quite what to say.

After a few moments, he looked away from his pastor and He saw him wipe a tear away as he said, “I sure wish I could live my life over again.”

Well you know that is probably true of many of us here today but the fact of the matter is we can't

because our lives are single.

You only have ONE life to live, and then it’s over—

so you’d better make it count because it's all you get

II. THE MOTTO GOES ON TO SAY, “’TWILL SOON BE PAST” – THIS REMINDS US THAT OUR LIFE IS SHORT.

It’s amazing to me that more preachers don’t make more of this fact than they do, because it’s a very prominent theme in God’s Word.