First Sunday of Lent: Disposable Cups

One of the most challenging things Paul said was in Acts 20:24 "I do not count my life of any value to myself” What a challenge Paul gave us in his example.

The other day there was a memorial of a lady who had passed away. Each of the family members talked of her life - the challenges she went through, losing a husband when her children were young; trying to raise her daughters in the right way, and to be a support to her grandkids in the midst of everything else. But the thing that touched me the most was what her granddaughter said. She said weeping, "I wish I could have told you more how much you mean to me." And as I read this, I thought of people who have passed away in my life, and how I have often thought: "If only I had one more day..."

But then I thought of something even more important on the exact same lines - not toward loved ones, but toward God: We have only this one life to show God how much He means to us.

And here's the question: When the time comes to die, will I say, "I wish I could have showed the Lord more how much He means to me."

It will change our perspective on everything when we think like that. How we would wish that we had striven much more against sin and sought much more to spend plain and simple time with the Lord - not with masterful professional prayers but just Jesus and me - two friends alone with each other; to love Jesus by loving others and showing them mercy and encouragement; to be content in all trials and sufferings, for His sake, to praise Him in all of them; to labor WITH God for the salvation of others by praying for them and never giving up; to seek His presence always, and treasure Him above everything else; to despise the things of earth, considering everything of earth as rubbish for His sake; to know Him and to please Him, etc.

What a chance we have now. But we only have it now. In our Epistle reading today we read, "... Behold, now is ‘THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,’ behold, now is ‘THE DAY OF SALVATION’”

I've heard it said, "A man is what he thinks about all day." One of my goals during Lent is to gain a continual habit of gently turning my attention away from distractions and back to the Lord and His presence, throughout the day. Not to fix my gaze on 'other cares'. That is not easy. I don't think many Christians ever attain to that type of closeness with the Lord. But the Lord has put in my heart a desire for such a life, and I believe that that is the way to keep doing everything for the love and glory of God-to carry my cross with Jesus in my sights and in my heart. Otherwise it would be like a wife who cooks and cleans the home, consistently - but who has no desire for her husband, no desire to love him and to be with him. That will be a lifeless Christianity. I must keep the Father and Jesus in my heart in the midst of all of this. I need the right life WITH the right motive.

I drink coffee in disposable cups. I enjoy the coffee. But the cup is basically worthless except for what it holds for a short time. I throw it away finally. And that was EXACTLY what our life was: Disposable. That's what Paul meant when he said, "I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course" (Acts 20:24). The only value this life holds is what it can contain of Jesus in these few moments that we are here. It is disposable. It's a disposable life. It may be full of treasure while it is here for a short while; but then it will be thrown out.

Or our disposable life can be a cup full of devotion to Christ - and such devotion means that Christ is EVERYTHING to me. That devotion is the only valuable thing that this disposable life can hold for a while.

- A disposable cup full of Christlikeness to live here and please the Lord not just outwardly, but inwardly from the heart with pure love and intentions flowing out of us
- A disposable cup full of humility which lifts the Father and Jesus up, and is happy to go down and decrease because Christ is increasing - A disposable cup full of trust and faith which submits to God's wisdom and love, in the midst of great pain and many years of suffering - contentedly committing ourself to the Lord's hand through it all, to do as He will.

This is the eternal value which our disposable cup can hold for some time until we move into eternity.

James 4:14 says, "you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes."

So, it is spiritually very profitable to think about the future and to meditate on what will matter 1000 years from now - or even 100 years from now. Such thinking helped me early on in my Christian life.

Here's a poem that challenged me- to live more seriously for God, and to fix my mind on things above (Col 3:2):

100 YEARS FROM NOWIt will not make much difference, friend,

A hundred years from now,

If you lived in a stately mansion

Or on a floating river scow;

If the clothes you wear are tailor-made

Or pieced together somehow,

If you eat big steaks or beans and cake

A hundred years from now.

It won't matter about your bank account

Or the make of car you drive,

For the grave will claim your riches and fame

And the things for which you strive.

There's a deadline we all must meet

And no one will turn up late,

It won't matter then, all the places you've been,

Each one will keep that date.

We will only have in eternity

What we gave away on earth,

When we go to the grave we can only save

The things of eternal worth,

What matters, friend, the earthly gain

For which some men always bow?

For your destiny will be sealed, you see

A hundred years from now.