What Are You Going To Do With The Rest Of Your Life?

A few years ago, a friend of mine decided he was going to retire.  He'd put in his 30 years, and he was the right age, and he decided it was time to go.  I asked him what he was going to do after he retired.  He said, "not work!"  He said he'd spent all of his life working, and he wanted to spend the rest of it relaxing.  

I hear people say this a lot.  How they've "spent" their life.  How they're going to "spend" the rest of it.  There was always something about that idea that bothered me, but I could never put my finger on what it was.  Until now.

Because now I'm that age.  I've put my time in.  And I'm old enough I can retire.  I'm thinking about these things.  

With one difference.

I don't plan on "spending" the rest of my life.  I've not "spent" my life up to this point.  I have a different perspective about life.  I've always looked at life as something we should invest in, not spend.

If you have $100, and you know you only have that much, you're constantly thinking as you go along about how much of that $100 you have left.  But if you invest that same $100, it has more value that what appears on its face. 

Our life is the same way, and that's how we should look at life also!  Not as "spending" it, but as if we're "investing" our life.  What if you invested your life in something that matters?  Something important!  What if you invested your life in people you care about?  What if you invested your life making your community a better place, or the life of those less fortunate than you better?

We see the potential value of our life when we start thinking about life as something we can invest, rather than just continuing to spend it until it's all gone.   

And here's one more thing to think about.  Just like with money, people who invest their life rather than spend their life usually leave a lot more behind when they're finally called home.

So don't spend your life.  Invest it!  

~Pastor Todd Creason