IMPORTANT VALUES
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8: 36-37)
Have you
ever sat down to contemplate the real values of life? Have you ever pondered
the purpose of your existence? Or
considered the impact you are making on your family, community and society at
large?
A
Funeral Director once told me that on the average, every person will have
personally influenced about 400 people in his or her lifetime!
I’m quite sure that most
people are unaware of the influence their personal lifestyle has on relatives,
neighbours, fellow workers and friends!
It is
incumbent upon us to pause for a time of reflection and come to grips with the
awesome responsibility we have in being a kind and decent person, a good role
model and a fine example of true Christianity!
The three
most important things in life, as I see it, are these: A man’s
relationship to God, his family, and his fellowman! When it is all said
and done and you lie in your casket, these three things will matter the most:
Firstly, have you made your peace with
God? Are your sins forgiven? Have you received God’s gift of eternal life
through Jesus Christ, Who shed His precious blood for us all? Secondly,
how have you treated your family members – wife, husband, children, relatives? Thirdly,
what was your attitude toward your fellowman? Did you seek to lift their heavy
burdens and point them to Christ?
LET’S DO AN EVALUATION?
“To realize the value of a sibling, ask
someone who doesn't have one. To realize the value of ten years, ask someone widowed
after a decade of marriage. To realize the value of four years, ask a graduate.
To realize the value of one year, ask a student who has failed a final exam.
To
realize the value of nine months, ask a mother who gave birth to a still born.
To realize the value of one month, ask the owner of a business in receivership
for late payments. To realize the value of one week, ask someone lost on a
mountain for 7 days. To realize the value of one hour, ask someone waiting
for pain relief after an accident.
To realize the value of one minute, ask a person who has missed the train, bus or plane. To realize the value of one second, ask a driver who hit someone because car brakes were fading. To realize the value of one millisecond, ask the person who won a silver medal in the Olympics.
To realize the value of a friend, lose one. Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. You will treasure it even more when you can share it with someone special! - Author Unknown
Are we more interested in our own enrichment in temporal things than in our spiritual development? Are we spending quality time with our families and seeking to give them something of enduring value rather than trying to buy their love through monetary gifts and expensive toys? May our priorities never be wrong when comes to building character in our children and grandchildren!
May God help us to be examples of Jesus and His love our loved ones, our neighbours and everyone we come in contact with. And let us reach out to as many as possible to those who do not know Jesus and His amazing love, mercy and grace! Amen.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." (John 3: 16, 17)
SALVATION THROUGH CHRIST'S BLOOD!
"Forasmuch as we know that were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from you vain conversation (lifestyle) received by tradition from fathers; Bit with the precious BLOOD of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish or spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, Who by Him do believe in God, that raised Him from the dead, and gave Him glory; that your faith might be in God.
"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, seeing that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently; Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth and, and the flower thereof fadeth away.
"But the WORD of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you." (1 Peter 1:7-25). Amen.
