Investing Life for the Right Cause

One day a mathematics professor entered the classroom and wrote two columns of numbers on the black board. Then turning to the students, he asked, “Do you find any relationship between the numbers in these two columns?” The students looked at the numbers. They could not find any relationship between the numbers. At last one student rose up and said, “The first column refers to the number of years and the second column refers to number of days.” The professor was happy that a student could identify the relationship between the numbers and said, “These columns reveal the shortness of the life of man in this world. This points out that he must carefully use his life for the glory of God.” The two columns that he wrote on the black board are given below.

The professor, again looking at what he wrote on the board said, “Suppose a man lives for one hundred years, hewill live approximately 36,500 days in this world. This number (36,500) is a very small number when comparedto the numbers, millions and trillions, that we use daily. Suppose I live for another 10 years, I will live only 3,650 days in this world.” Looking at a student sitting in the front row he asked, “What is your age?” The student stood up and answered, “I am 20 years old.” The professor then continued, “This student is now 20 years old. Suppose he dies at the age of 50 years he will live only 18,250 days in this world. This statistics demonstrates the shortness of our life.” Let us see how we can use our short life for Christ and for the ministry meaningfully.

1. Be willing to lose life for ministry: “But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

2. Give up life for Christ:  “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does nottake his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 10:37-39).

3. Put Jesus first: “Always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death is working in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:9-12).

4. Put the kingdom of God first in life: “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? … Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:25 – 33).

5. Risk the life for others who are lost in sin: “Men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have there foresent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth”(Acts 15:26-27).

6. Put away evil from life: “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience” (Col. 3:3-6).

7. Accept the sufferings of life: “Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women, speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:9-10).126

8. Fear God and not men: “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”(Luke 12:4-5)

9. Praise God for goodness of life: “Because Your loving-kindness is better than life, My lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name” (Ps. 63 :3-4).

10. Live for the will of God: “Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God” (Pet. 1:1-2).

(Dr. C. Barnabas, taken from True Discipleship, May-June 2005)