"What Is Your Life?"

I have heard often, and there was a time it was me, how people say they live for this or that. Some people wrap themselves up in their jobs and that becomes their life pursuit. Others go after entertainment or the outdoors. Still others live their lives for their children and grandchildren or maybe their mate. They say that is their life! It is things like these that professed Christians have involved their lives in, investing every ounce of their energy toward a certain one or thing. It has become their life...but it will disappoint. People lose their jobs or ill health can take a toll on plans for the future. Our children can pass away (I sure don't want that but it does happen) and it leaves people devastated, sending them down into a deep well of pain and misery. Why? Because they have made them their lives!! I am not trying to discourage anyone but we need to take a real serious inventory of why we are living and what we are pursuing. You might say this is your life but there is coming a big surprise...

What is our life? What are we missing? Someone calls to Jesus, asking Him to tell his brother to divide the family inheritance (Luke 12). Jesus used this opportunity to explain to man what life really is about and He tells us that our lives do not consist of our possessions, even when one has an abundance. But there is more. If our life does not consist of "things" or we make our lives about our families, what are we missing? There is something seriously going wrong in the mind and heart of people. Jesus explains...the man built larger barns storing his goods. He was content, happy as his life efforts were placed in the present leading to the future. The man speaks to himself, calling it his soul! But then God steps in and calls the man "a fool." Listen to the words of God, "This very night your soul is required of you..." (v.20) What is our life about? It's our soul! Our life is our soul, not possessions, not our jobs or our family. Our lives aren't about hunting or fishing. One may make their lives about these things, but the Lord knows better. Your life is about your soul as that is the one part of you that will enter eternity in the presence of God. Your soul is the spiritual part of you that makes you who you are. (I'll write about the soul sometime.) We all have a soul and what happens is the soul is going to attach itself to either the physical realm or the spiritual realm. Whatever you pursue, your soul will attach itself to that. If it is the wrong thing, you will suffer a great loss. Just look at the great efforts we put toward family and things, yet the soul part of us is dying or maybe already dead! The man building his barns was so blinded by his pursuits, gave little thought about his soul and it cost him eternally!

Jesus came to redeem us, to rescue our souls! That is the most important part of our lives. Your life is your soul! To make your life about anything else, you will forfeit everything eternally. Jesus said, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:26) What about you? What are you exchanging your soul for? Maybe we need to re-think about what we live for...eternity is one breath away!