MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR LIFE
It’s that time of year again. It is time for graduations. All across our nation, our young people are graduating from high schools and colleges. We have several young people here today, who are graduating seniors.
Most graduating from high school this year, were born in 1989. Do you remember 1989? In 1989,
- The Exxon Valdez ran aground off the coast of Alaska, spilling 11 millions gallons of fuel.
- The Communist party lost control of the parliament in Russia for the first time, and the Berlin Wall was torn down.
- Disney, MGM Studios opened to the public for the first time.
- Nintendo began selling Game Boy in Japan.
- The First George Bush was president, with Dan Quayle as VP.
- TV Shows Seinfeld and The Simpsons premiered.
- For the first time, an earthquake was televised live, as an earthquake struck the San Francisco Bay area during the warm up to the 3rd game of the World Series.
- In 1989 US troops invaded Panama.
- Driving Miss Daisy hit theaters.
- 1st class stamps were $.25 & the Dow was running 2,600
- In 1989, Pete Rose accepted a lifetime ban from baseball
A lot of things have changed since 1989. Video games have come a long way. Prices on many things have changed. The Dow is up. Game Boy has progressed.
At the same time, many things haven’t changed. We still have hurricanes and earthquakes. We still have scandals in baseball. We still have troops in harm’s way. The Simpsons are still on, and we still have a Bush in the White House. There is another thing that hasn’t changed in 18 years either. It hasn’t changed in 18 years. It hasn’t changed in 100 years. It hasn’t changed in 6000 years, and it will probably never change. What hasn’t changed in all that time is that the decisions you make today, will impact your tomorrow. The decisions you make today will shape your tomorrow.
WHAT YOU DO TODAY WILL SHAPE YOUR TOMORROW
- Genesis 25:19-34
We read here, that Isaac & Rebekah wanted to start a family. Isaac prayed that God would give his wife a child because she hadn’t had any children yet. God answered her prayers, and gave her twins. Two boys were born to the couple, Esau & Jacob.
This morning I’d like us to think primarily about Esau. In many ways, Esau was a good guy to be around. He was strong & muscular. He was bold and manly. He was buff, hearty, generous, impulsive, & likeable. He was the oldest son of the only God-chosen family on the face of the earth, heir to a line that offered him a direct link to the Messiah & to priestly & princely rights. In many people’s eyes, he probably had a great many virtues. But Esau had 3 primary problems.
1. Esau had no self-control – Esau was controlled by his passions. He was controlled by whims. He was sure that he was going to die, that he could not live another day, if he didn’t what he wanted right then and there.
2. Esau didn’t think about tomorrow – He lived for today, never thinking about what his decisions today would cost him tomorrow.
3. Esau judged things by what he saw.
> Hebrews 12:16 And see that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for one meal.
The word translated in this verse as “irreverent” carries the idea of irreligious or secular. In other words, he wasn’t touched by spiritual things. He didn’t judge things by spiritual standards.
Esau lived for the moment. He lived for the here & now. He didn’t care about the future. He didn’t plan for the future. He didn’t realize that what he did each day would shape his future. So he traded his birthright, which as the 1st-born son, would give him a double portion of the inheritance and the responsibility of spiritually leading the clan, for a bowl of stew.
WHAT YOU DO TODAY WILL SHAPE YOUR TOMORROW
Young people, adults, I want you to know that what you do today will shape your tomorrow. The actions you take today, the decisions you make today, will shape your tomorrow.
> Galatians 6:7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap.
Ask your parents if that is true. Ask them if they are reaping what they’ve sown. Ask Mrs. Bernice. Ask Mrs. Yea. Ask Mr. & Mrs. Goddard. Ask Mr. Tom. Ask some of the folks in our congregation, whose hair is whitened with wisdom, ask them if they have not seen this played out again and again. Ask them if they are reaping today, the seed they’ve sown in years past.
Ask the older man, who traded his family for his career when he was young, if he is reaping what he’s sown. Ask that family, with closets over flowing and surrounded by all of the world’s toys, drowning in debt and worried about tomorrow, ask them if they are harvesting what they planted. Ask that person, barely able to move after a lifetime of idleness and fast-food, ask that person dragging an oxygen tank on his hip coughing with every other step after years of a 2-pack a day habit, if he is reaping what he placed in his body. Ask that woman, abandoned by husband and family after running off with a man at the office, ask her if her decisions in the past are affecting her today. Ask Pete Rose. Ask Jim Baker. Ask Billy Graham.
Folks don’t waste your life.
But, how do you do that? How do you make the most of your life?
I believe there are several steps you can take to make the most of your life.
I. DECIDE RIGHT NOW WHAT YOU WANT TO BE
Decide right now, what you want to be. Decide right now, what you want to be when you get to the finish line. Decide right now, what kind of life you want to be able to look back on when you get to the finish line.
>Matthew 25:21 “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You were faithful over a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Share your master’s joy!’
II. ASK YOURSELF SOME QUESTIONS
1. What benefit will I receive?
If I do this, what will I get out of it? How is it going to benefit me? Will this help me? Will it pay off in the long run? Will them help me become who I want to be? All Esau got was a bowl of stew.
2. What is this going to cost me?
What price are you going to have to pay if you do this? What price might you have to pay if you do this? If I spend the majority of my time doing this with my children, what I am teaching them about priorities?
3. What would Jesus do?
III. ASK FOR HELP
Ask for help.
1. Ask God for help.
> John 16:24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be complete.
> James 4:2 You desire and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask.
2. Ask Friends for Help
> Proverbs 27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Running. Weight training. We work better together, when we hold each other accountable, when we help and encourage one another.
> Proverbs 28:13 The one who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
> James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The intense prayer of the righteous is very powerful.
IV. RUN WHEN POSSIBLE
> 1 Corinthians 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality! Every sin a person can commit is outside the body, but the person who is sexually immoral sins against his own body.
My friends, if you see a temptation coming, and you can avoid it, run! Don’t wait around, don’t play around, run. You drop a match in your lap, you don’t sit there and wonder how long it can sit there before it burns you. You get rid of it. …
> 1 Samuel 17:48 When the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly to the battle line to meet the Philistine.
When you know God has given you something to do, when you know you are led to do a certain thing, do it, get about it as soon as possible. Don’t wait around until tomorrow. Between now and tomorrow, you might change your mind. You’re just giving the Devil a chance to talk you out of it. If you know you need to get on a diet, don’t wait until tomorrow. Do it today! If you know you need to get on a budget. Don’t wait until tomorrow, don’t wait until the bill collector is at your door, work on it this afternoon. Do it today! If you know you need to deal with something in your life, if you know there is a habit you need to stop, if you know there is a spiritual discipline you need to add to your life, don’t wait until tomorrow. Do it today!
Robert Frost (1874–1963). Mountain Interval. 1920.
1. The Road Not Taken
TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth; 5
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same, 10
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back. 15
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 20
WHAT YOU DO TODAY WILL SHAPE YOUR TOMORROW
