Some time back one of my doctors quizzed me after I complained about a couple of problems. After answering his questions (did you test well in school? are you disorganized?) he concluded that I probably suffer from dyslexia and adult ADD. He suggested I go have some tests run. When I found out the main purpose of testing was to see if I needed to be on drugs, I decided to skip the test. After all, I don’t test well!
One of the many tale-tell signs of both dyslexia and AADD is counting stuff and seeing life through numbers, even if they do come up backwards at times. It occurred to me that I do tend to see life through numbers.
For example, a few years ago I hit 250 pounds. A quick calculation revealed that I was half way to 500, a place I did not want to go. Now, at 270, I’m pleased because I generally see the number as 207.
A more serious set of numbers that I began to focus on a few years ago was my age. Again, doubling the number I soon realized that at 45, I am half way to 90, an age I seriously doubt I will live to see.
That got me thinking about just what I have accomplished and how many more years I will have to do what I feel is important to do, especially in the Lord’s service.
Nan and I used to talk about going to a city where no church of the Lord exists and spending 5 years there working intensively to start a faithful group. Assuming that we were successful, we would move on and start the process again in another city. Five years doesn’t seem like a long time and we ought to be able to do this multiple times. But at age 50 (coming up next), if I have 25 more good years ahead of me, I can only affect 5 cities. Wow! That’s not many. And besides, I am not going to be in a position to make that transition anytime soon – maybe not until 60. Now I am down to 3 cities.
My point here is that we all need to be thinking about how we can have the most impact right now, where we are, not way off into the future in some other place. If we are not thinking in that way, we don’t understand our vocation! (Ephesians 4:1 – see the KJV). The new Christians in Bible days, being persecuted for their faith, went everywhere “preaching the word.” Acts 8:4. The Thessalonians were very busy people in the kingdom. “For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place. Your faith toward God has gone out, so that we do not need to say anything.” 1 Thess 1:8. Paul was not writing to paid evangelists. He wrote that letter to individual church goers like you and me. Are we so busy that the preachers need not preach?
How old are you? How many more good years do you have in you to spread the news? When was the last time you said, “I need to get busy because my life racing by quickly,” only to let a few more years slip by? We cannot wait for retirement! We can’t wait until we have the money! When those things come we will either have too many aches and pains or our affections will have been drawn away to other matters by our wealth. Today is the day that we must start the Lord’s work in our lives.
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