James 4:14(b)
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
I was listening to a message by the acclaimed preacher, Louie Giglio. He asked the question, “What have you done with your dash?” Giglio explained how he was walking through a graveyard one day, reading the gravestones. Suddenly he became aware of one small marking on every stone: the little dash between the birth date and the date of death.
In his book, Fan The Flame, Joseph Stowell writes, “The Greeks had a race in their Olympic games that was unique. The winner was not the runner who finished first. It was the runner who finished with his torch still lit. I want to run all the way with the flame of my torch still lit for Him.”
By the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Apostle Paul tells us that in a race, the runners run to receive a prize. Then he adds that the race we run in life – our little dash between birth and death – is run not to receive a temporal prize but an eternal prize: the words of our Lord and Saviour, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
I am not a morning person. Generally, when I wake up in the morning I dream of the minute, about 16 hours later, when I’ll be putting my head back down on my pillow again. I jest. However, the Lord burst through my morning blues one morning with the words, “Today is a gift to you. Make the most of it.”
So, let’s make the most of every day to please the Lord. Let us take every opportunity in our small dash to touch a life with the goodness of God, pray for the sick, share the Good News or help the needy. Make the most of every opportunity because the days we live in are deprived. Our finite 70, 80, 90 years are but a mist; here one minute, gone the next. But Jesus promised us abundant life. If my life is but a fleeting mist then there must be more to it than just getting up in the morning. Abundant life begins now and takes us to eternity.
Make your dash count. Run in a such a way as to keep your torch lit. Today is an abundant gift to you from an eternal God.
“O Father, forgive me for apathy and procrastination. Forgive me for not making the most of every opportunity in this little dash of life. I decide now, by your grace, to make the most of every opportunity I’m presented with to share your love wherever I can. Help me to pray for the sick, share the gospel and help the needy. I give you my dash, O Lord. Help me make it count. Amen.”
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