Living with the end in mind

Hello, eternal family,🤗 I hope we are all doing great? The post below is one that I had previously shared last year on Instagram and as I was reading through it again, God ministered to me and the post blessed me all over again. It was originally shared by my pastor and I will like to share it with you too. I pray you get blessed as you read. Thanks.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 says, “ No man has the power to retain the spirit or power over the day of their death.” You can not steal or buy more days. Your departure day from this earth will not be delayed; It is not like an airplane flight that could be delayed due to weather or any circumstances. Once it is your appointed time, you will die.

As humans, we live life like we have no end, which is true but not here on earth. Life here on earth has an end and continues either in heaven or hell. Death is inevitable, even though we often don’t like to talk or think about it. We can’t go on living in deception. We have to start living with the end in mind.

In Psalms 90:12 David said, “ Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” Here is a question for you, How many days do you have left? As for me, I don’t know and am sure you do not know the answer to that question too. But wisdom as David asked for, teaches us to live each day to it’s fullest and value our time on earth.

What will your legacy be? What will people say about you when you die? Will it be, “Thank goodness the wicked witch is dead or wow, he/she was an excellent person or he/she was a great blessing to my life.” What will they say? But most importantly, what will God say about you, what will he say to you when you stand before him. Is it going to be, “Well done my faithful servant or depart from me, ye worker of iniquity.”

Live life with a vision, mission, and purpose in mind. How do you end up at a destination, if you don’t even know where you are going. If you don’t have a vision, mission or purpose, then you don’t have a destination, you live life like a wanderer and sin does not seem like a big deal because you are not thinking about the end or judgment day in mind. Life is not about discovering yourself, but about creating yourself. You should INTENTIONALLY create who you want to become. People say I am trying to discover myself. Discover what??? What exactly are you trying to discover if you don’t have a vision? You need to have a purpose and work towards creating yourself to become that. You don’t sit around waiting to see what you discover about yourself or become. Don’t blame people around you for that which you are today; you got there yourself one step at a time.

As parents, our vision should be to make our kids the next generations of Jesus worshippers and disciples. But often our vision is to make our kids a famous sports star, a doctor, a lawyer, etc. But hey! Where exactly does that end for them? Will it eventually lead them to hear “well done or depart from me” from God? The Bible says, Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22: 6).

Be like a farmer, who sows corn seeds and knows that he will harvest corn. A farmer doesn’t sow corn seed and wonders if he gets cashew by harvest time. You can’t live a life full of disobedience, carelessness, and evil ways and wonder if you will make it into heaven. That is pure foolishness and self-deception. You should know exactly where you will end. It is INTENTIONAL SOWING for an INTENTIONAL HARVEST.

The right question isn’t, “ Do you know God? But, “Does God know you? You might know God, but he doesn’t know you. Will he tell you to depart from him or well done?

So, we need to stop acting and living like we will be on earth forever. Don’t get caught up in the “someday syndrome” We say to ourselves someday, I will read my Bible, someday I will spend more time with my family, someday I will go back to school, someday I will volunteer, etc.

What is your someday syndrome? The fact is if you keep saying someday, someday, someday; one day, there won’t be a someday anymore, you will dying or dead. In a game, the game ends when the time runs out, not when you want to stop. So start scoring now and stop living like the game will continue forever.

We can’t re-live yesterday because it is gone already and we can’t live tomorrow because it has not come yet. All we have is today, this moment. Live it right.

I don’t know your last day on earth, but I am confident that it is one day less (yesterday). So, begin to live with the end in mind. What will your last word be? What will people say about you? What will God say to you? How will your story end? Are you going to end up in heaven or in hell?