My Bucket List Item

I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people . . . 

 - Ezekiel 37

We have a "Culture of Life" in our generation, and it's a problem.

Everything is all about "quality of life." 

"You only live once."

"Life is short, and you have to go for the gusto."

We spend hours at the gym. We save up tens of thousands of dollars for retirement. We scour the ingredients of everything we eat, to make sure it's sufficiently "organic." 

And stuff like this in moderation isn't bad.

We skip church and spiritual growth because we need time in our gardens (hobbies, reading, home projects, etc.) We work extra hours to get ahead of our peers. We make sure to go to DisneyWorld once a year. 

Stuff like this is close to the edge.

We end our marriages because "I deserve more." We put our aging parents in homes because we're too busy to care for them. We travel all over the place for our jobs, and miss our kids' high school years. We spend precious dollars on tattoos, plastic surgery and other self-indulgences.

Now . . . that's bad.

But it's for "quality of life." Don't you deserve more than the hand you have been dealt?

We worship life. We worship this life as if there really isn't more to it!

If you're a Christian, a believer, then let me recommend some prayerful reconsideration of this philosophy.

When you believe your God will truly raise up your dead, lifeless, dry, decaying bones, back to life, one day . . . then really what else matters? We'd swim the Atlantic Ocean, if we knew at the end of it was eternal life for us. So what's so inaccessible about simple belief?

Yes, time is short. Our life now, this life, is about building God's Kingdom. Our one task, our sole objective, is to become witnesses to the event shown on the video, and to invite others to share in it as well.

I am not saying we should give up things that add quality to our life. If you are responsible for a spouse, parents, and/or children, of course providing security, safety, and fun; and urging excellence in school and career, is essential to assuring that all of them make it to Resurrection Day.

But there is a balance. Our 80 years here are not all there is. We need to start acting like our life here today is only about getting into the next life. And once you're there, you'll have forever to complete your bucket list!