I was recently listening to an old recording I have of Elizabeth Elliott. She just made the profound statement that originally prompted me to keep the recording:
"there is nothing worth living for unless it's worth dying for"
I love that quote.
How many things on this earth and in our lives do we each consider worth dying for? Life has so much more meaning when you are surrounded by those whom you would die for. Those who are surrounded by "things" that they believe bring them pleasure would admit they would surely not die for them. Thus they don't know the level of meaning that they can obtain for their own life if they would just trade in their things for meaningful relationships.
There is a secular song written for and performed by none other than The Monkees. I love the lyrics in the second verse of the song, "The Door into Summer". It speaks of the man who spent his life building up his pile of "things" and the ultimate regret therein:
With his travel logs of 'maybe next year' places
As a trade-in for a name upon the door
And he pays for every year he can't buy back with his tears
As he finds out there's been no one keeping score
We cannot serve many masters, effectively. We cannot put 100% energy into more than one thing. Yes many can get a way with 50/50 if they are affective and things fall into place just right. However that is not reality because life doesn't fall into place all the time as we plan. Yes we can give 50% to work but our career may suffer. Yes we can give 50% to our family but our family will suffer. People tend not to be happy when they give 50% to something. Therefore one thing
inevitably gets more attention. It is usually those earthly things that bring us immediate gratification that get most of our attention.
For example, children are a long term investment. The effects of what you do or don't do with our children today will not be seen for many years to come. However if a man puts all his time into the workplace, he may get pay raises and praise today but ultimately it does not matter. Let me explain. I recently attended a funeral of a friend from my church. Several people got up to speak about the life of this woman. NO ONE got up and said they were happy that she worked more hours than expected or she always did great work on the job. People spoke about how she hugged and how she listened to others without judging or how she always was there to talk. People who were really touched by how she treated them were the ones who testified to her life.
Who or what are you living for? Is it worth dying for?
