FIRST THINGS FIRST…
If you knew you only had one day to live, what would your priority be? What if it was one week or one year?
Why do we sometimes act as if we have forever to live?
Maybe it’s because we haven’t seen and touched death so many times up close and personal and felt the indescribable painful changing sting it brings to you life and heart?
Maybe we sometimes forget that even children and young adults die and that age really has nothing to do with death?
So, with all that being said…what should our priorities be right now if we know we won’t live forever?
Because we won’t….that’s the bottom line….so much of our lives are spent being careful or safe and avoiding something that could harm us to the point we can easily become a shell of who we were meant to be……we are so consumed with avoiding death, as if that is even a possibility, that in the process we have wasted time not embracing life for the wonderful fragile precious gift it is! You can read more about that here!
Now don’t misunderstand what I am saying here….there are many risks out there not worth taking for me personally because I have seen and witnessed to much in my time as an EMT…it has taught me to be careful and avoid certain things. There is a wisdom in sitting things out sometimes. So, I am not a proponent for being stupid and throwing caution to the wind…..I am not advocating for danger or anything of the sort…I am simply pleading here for people to truly LIVE while they are still here with life in them!
SO…WHAT WOULD WE DO IF WE KNEW WE ONLY HAD A SHORT TIME TO LIVE?
Would it be fulfiling things off our bucket list? Being sure there is enough savings to pay for final expenses? Maybe it would include spending time with loved ones as much as possible. There could be planning for funeral preparations. Maybe even attempts at a great medical treatment that can hopefully give you more life?
None of these things are wrong….none of these things are bad….maybe all of the above is the answer and more.
Maybe it’s to sit still and be with God. Maybe it’s to sit under a blanket and snuggle closely with your children and read to them. Maybe it’s to finally complete that race you have been wanting to do!
Whatever the priority would be what’s interesting is we are called to do something in life that I haven’t yet listed there on our prioirity list if we knew we had a short time to live.
Our priority right now…during these times, and any, should be to glorify and praise God!
Now, the cool thing is is that none of us are one trick ponies…what do I mean by that? Well quite simply that glorifying and praising God can play out in all those ways up above listed and so much more!
As long as it is for the glory of God and we are praising Him along the way, and it is truly done for His glory, then it’s a good thing. We just have to determine in life what it is that is worthy of our focus, time, energy, and what God is calling us to do. Not, what we “feel called” to do, not what we think would be fun or make us the most money, but what is GOD ACTUALLY CALLING US TO DO?
The reason I meantion “feel called” vs “God Actually calling us to it” is because those truly are two distinctly different things in that we can convince ourselves of the one thing, but sometimes the thing that God is actually calling us to is more foreign and scary to us so we tend to shove it down and say that it must not be from Him.
So, what if He called you to move across the country where you knew not a single person and live in a much smaller place crowded all around you and you knew it was from Him, but fought it? Well, God is going to do what He is going to do regardless so we may as well jump along for the ride and praise Him the whole time!
I digress a bit, but all that to say this…He is in the business of using everyday people like you and me (although there really is nothing “everyday” about us) to change the world!
ASK HIM WHAT HE WANTS YOU TO DO!
So listen, what is it He is calling you to do? Pray and ask Him for guidance. He will give it to you, and He will make it plain to you. The question isn’t whether or not God will show Himself. The question is will you show up for the calling?
So, if you had one day or one week or one year to live…what would you be doing? What has God called you to right now to do? I am not asking what your degree is in or what you have done for the past 2 decades. I am asking you right now…what is it God is calling you to do?
That is the very thing that you should be doing with your last day or week or year…that is the thing you should be doing with your beautiful life!
Check out our latest podcast episode related to this for even more encouragement!
NO MORE FEAR..HOPE AND FAITH
Listen, my friend, the reason I press so much with the one day or week or year to live is that I have seen so much tragedy, so much pain, so much suffering, and so much death. I have seen it in ages from newborn up to old age. I have seen it from drunk driving wrecks to fights at school, to bar fights and robberies and murder and suicide. There is no end to the way people die or their age when they die.
This is not at all to depress or discourage, but to ENCOURAGE AND BUILD UP HOPE while we are still here! We don’t know what the future holds, but we KNEW WHO HOLDS THE FUTURE!
Because on the flip side of that is hope. Because there also is no end to the way God uses people. Listen, stop listening to the judgmental legalistic voices in this world that want you to do it according to their plan. Their ways are not God’s ways. They don’t pay your bills. They don’t give you salvation.
OUR PRIORITY!
LISTEN ONLY TO HIM.
Ask Him for wisdom.
Then SPEND YOUR TIME PRAISING HIM! HE IS SO PRAISEWORTHY AND IT PUTS ALL OF LIFE AND DEATH AND OUR TIME AND MISSIONS HERE INTO PERSPECTIVE WHEN WE SPEND OUR TIME GLORIFYING HIM WITH ALL THAT WE HAVE AND ARE!
PSALM 139:14 reminds us even where we came from is praiseworthy,
“I praise YOU because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”
So we are to praise Him just for being alive to start with! Yup! I can jump on that for sure!
And we are to praise Him because He is our strength and shield!
Psalm 59:17, “O my Strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love.”
We are to Praise Him simply FOR WHO HE IS because HE is LORD as we are reminded in
Psalm 69:30, “I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.”
1 Chronicles 16:9 even tells us what we should do with our time spent praising Him,
“Sing to him; sing praises to him; TELL OF ALL HIS WONDROUS WORKS!”
I think one of the reasons I am so constantly talking about gratitude and wrote my book on it is because it is so inexplicably linked to praise, hope, and joy in the Lord I am not sure it can ever be separated to see which thread is which.
When we have God, we have everything and therefore it makes it so natural to give thanks because we have all we could need!
Psalm 100:4, “Enter his gates WITH THANKSGIVING, and his courts with praise! GIVE THANKS TO HIM; bless his name!”
So, what should our priority be right now in life? If we are focused on the things of the world, we are in the wrong place. Our minute by minute and daily focus while we have the beautiful gift of being here should be to praise Him!
It takes you to an entirely different dimension and realm when we spend our days focusing on Him, doing what He calls us to do, and praising Him while doing it! It is, in all honestly, life as it is supposed to be!
It will always be evolving and changing, so that’s fine and good and as He prescribes as well, but we are to be constantly seeking His voice through the noise, chaos, and chatter of the world. We are to be constantly seeking to Praise Him and tell others of His goodness and not our own skills or successes.
He is our priority.
He is our life.
He is our one to be glorified!
So, our answer to the question what should our priority be if we knew we had only one day one week or one year to live?
PRAISING GOD!
Since we know we only have ONE LIFE TO LIVE, THEN LET’S DO THAT! LET’S PRAISE HIM!
Comment below and let us know how you like to praise Him as you go about your day!