In light of eternity, a lifetime is not very long to make an impact for the kingdom…or is it? Is there enough time to serve God?
Have you often pondered about heavenly rewards? For instance, the crowns which we will wear. Also, the souls we will have won for Christ, and the lives we touch for Him? Each is the result of what we choose to do during our short lives on Earth.
God does not give us an infinite amount of time on earth to serve Him. We have a short lifetime to serve Him. All the more so, if we become believers in Christ as adults.
James asks of readers, “For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away”. (Jas. 4:14b KJV) We receive eternal rewards based on what we do throughout our short lives. That’s striking to consider.
Yet this mindset can trick us into thinking that our lives are too short to be of proper service to God. While it is important to redeem the time (Eph. 5:16 KJV) we must not be deceived into thinking that we can never accomplish enough for God.
Furthermore, we must keep in mind that this mindset may influence us to focus on doing “big things” in our eyes for God that are not necessarily good for us to do. This way of thinking also makes us overwhelmed when we look at the world around us, for how can we possibly make a positive impact in a world that is so lost with needs virtually everywhere?
It may seem as though we should have more time to make such a vast impact, despite our lives being as short as they are, yet the truth is that we have just the right amount of time to serve God and cultivate rewards for His kingdom.“Acts of service are measured in terms of eternal investment.”
Why? Because God shows us a different economy when we see our works through His perspective. God takes pleasure in quality, not quantity as shown in His reaction towards the woman who offered two mites– In His example of giving a cup of water to a child and in the parable of the talents. (Mk. 12:41-44 KJV, Matt. 10:42 KJV and 25:21 KJV)
He also has specific goals that are different for every one of His children (Eph. 2:10 KJV) and He not only sees all that we do but teaches us to do everything for Him (Col. 3:23-24 KJV). Therefore, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to serving God, nor do we have to always focus on hitting home runs for Him or try to do everything we can at all times. We could burn ourselves out and have to put serving Him on hold as a result.
Acts of service are measured in terms of eternal investment. Even small acts of service matter because they matter eternally, whether we realize it or not this side of heaven.
When we look upon the seemingly small things we do for God in the short time we have in this life and understand that each fruit we bear has eternal results, we realize that we do have enough time to accomplish great things for God.
God saves us instantly. The process leading up towards your moment of salvation may have taken time but the actual act of salvation is an instant regeneration whenever anyone genuinely believes and repents for the first time. Also, we do not always know the impact of what we do for God in this life.
Who are we to say that what we do for God just isn’t good enough? Yes, we always want to do good things for God and an attitude of wanting to serve Him is a good thing. However, we must be careful not to get carried away with thinking that what we have done, what we are doing, and what we will do for Him isn’t enough. God is always working in and through us.
Denying acts of service because they seem insignificant or because we do not think we have enough time to do greater things for God winds up turning the focus away from Him and His glory completely. In turn, it just puts more focus on our glory. Acts of service then become all about us and what we can do in our power. This is not the right approach to Godly service.“When we look upon the seemingly small things we do for God in the short time we have in this life and understand that each fruit we bear has eternal results, we realize that we do have enough time to accomplish great things for God.”
We must take hold of the fact that all service done out of a righteous heart for God is an eternal investment that He is working to accomplish through us. Remember, heaven rejoices over just one that is redeemed (Lk. 15:10 KJV) and Jesus loves us so much that He always leaves the ninety-nine sheep for just one who has gone astray. (Matt. 18:12-14 KJV) We need to cultivate this approach in our own lives. We need to celebrate even what appear to be the tiniest of victories for Jesus because they will pay dividends for all eternity.
All of this is what makes service to God truly meaningful, why it is our purpose as believers to serve Him as living sacrifices, and why it is our reasonable service to do so. (Rom. 12:1 KJV) Again, it matters not what we do exactly, nor how much service we can cram into a day. What matters is that we do all to His glory. (I Cor. 10:31 KJV)
It may appear we do not have enough time to make lasting and great impacts for God by our definitions. However, God has given us the exact time we need to accomplish great things for Him. This is because everything we do for Him is an investment for all eternity.