Psalm 49 (NIV)
If you’ve ever read an account by someone who has had to face their mortality, the underlying conclusion is usually one of changed priorities. You will often read statements like, “I don’t care about how money I earn, it’s only my family that matters,” or “A career, promotion, bigger house, bigger car seem so irrelevant when you’ve been told you’ve got six months to live.”
Whatever rocky journey those survivors have come through, they have emerged with a profound revelation that life is fragile and NOTHING material that we strive for in this earth we can take with us to the life beyond.
That is exactly what this wise psalmist is writing about. (vs 17)
I read an awful statistic once that said by 9am every day the average western, urban consumer has consciously or subconsciously absorbed 250 brands or segments of advertising! That is lot of aspirational, out-of-reach products that are streaming their way into our brains.
And is it only the shock of a near-death experience that re-wires the coding in our brains to think – ‘Hang on! I might have got my priorities mixed up somewhere?’
That is definitely not to say working hard or owning nice things is bad but look at it as if your house, car or job were a trust fund from God. If He were to ask you to give either or all of those things up, would you turn away with your heart full of sorrow or would you gladly give it up and say, ‘What’s next, Lord? Where do you want me to go?’
However, if it is God’s will for you to have that great job/car/house/family/talent – how are you using it to glory of God? Are you using it to invest into God’s Kingdom, thereby laying up for yourselves ‘treasures in heaven’? (Matt 6:19-20)
Like the psalmist says, there is no price we can ever pay to escape death (vs 8) and as Hebrews 9:27 says, ‘It is appointed for man to die once.’
Death is inevitable, but how we invest our time on earth is up to us.
We can live it to please ourselves or we can live it to bring praise to Jesus.
After all, God is eternal. He will live forever.
An investment into His bank will always pay fantastic dividends and will never lead us into a recession.
Let’s seek His Kingdom always and live our lives fully to the glory of God! Amen.
If you’ve ever read an account by someone who has had to face their mortality, the underlying conclusion is usually one of changed priorities. You will often read statements like, “I don’t care about how money I earn, it’s only my family that matters,” or “A career, promotion, bigger house, bigger car seem so irrelevant when you’ve been told you’ve got six months to live.”
Whatever rocky journey those survivors have come through, they have emerged with a profound revelation that life is fragile and NOTHING material that we strive for in this earth we can take with us to the life beyond.
That is exactly what this wise psalmist is writing about. (vs 17)
I read an awful statistic once that said by 9am every day the average western, urban consumer has consciously or subconsciously absorbed 250 brands or segments of advertising! That is lot of aspirational, out-of-reach products that are streaming their way into our brains.
And is it only the shock of a near-death experience that re-wires the coding in our brains to think – ‘Hang on! I might have got my priorities mixed up somewhere?’
That is definitely not to say working hard or owning nice things is bad but look at it as if your house, car or job were a trust fund from God. If He were to ask you to give either or all of those things up, would you turn away with your heart full of sorrow or would you gladly give it up and say, ‘What’s next, Lord? Where do you want me to go?’
However, if it is God’s will for you to have that great job/car/house/family/talent – how are you using it to glory of God? Are you using it to invest into God’s Kingdom, thereby laying up for yourselves ‘treasures in heaven’? (Matt 6:19-20)
Like the psalmist says, there is no price we can ever pay to escape death (vs 8) and as Hebrews 9:27 says, ‘It is appointed for man to die once.’
Death is inevitable, but how we invest our time on earth is up to us.
We can live it to please ourselves or we can live it to bring praise to Jesus.
After all, God is eternal. He will live forever.
An investment into His bank will always pay fantastic dividends and will never lead us into a recession.
Let’s seek His Kingdom always and live our lives fully to the glory of God! Amen.
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