Make It Count
by Steve Martin
“But it's
trouble ahead if you think you have it made. What you have is all you'll ever
get. And it's trouble ahead if you're satisfied with yourself. Your self will
not satisfy you for long. And it's trouble ahead if you think life's all fun
and games. There's suffering to be met, and you're going to meet it.” (Luke
6:24-25, The Message)
High above the city streets, comfortably living in
the multi-millionaire condo, the pro NFL quarterback rests on his laurels.
After achieving his early notoriety by leading his football team to the
playoffs, he has it made. Now his $20 million a year contract, good for the
next five years, has put him in a category few will ever know outside his
bubble. The fans rave him. The advertisers laud him. The rest of the world
lives on, scrapping by with what little they have. They live on the street
below, with nowhere to go.
I will spend nine hours on the job today, among the
same towering office buildings. I see it for what it is worth, breaking my
heart in the process. Bustling with overachievers, the good life is just
waiting to be had. Chasing after the gold, the glory and the girls motivates
the majority. In America, wealth is. Get it. Spend it. Get some more of it.
But myself, having left a Christian ministry top administration
job in 2010 (after a total of 24 years with three ministries) in order to start
a new humanitarian ministry that same year (Love For His People, Inc.), I had
to go back to a full time accounting job. I still had to pay the home mortgage
and car payment, while keeping the water running and lights on. Typical American.
My good wife at that time had completed 10 full years
on her daycare job. Now she is on her 16
th year as of this writing.
She continues to buy the food and other necessities.
During my office day, on occasion as I sit at my
desk, I observe those around me. Several are earning the big bucks (easily
$100,000 and much further up the scale each year) and spending company money
like there is no limit. Makes no difference if it is today or tomorrow (with
our USA government printing it freely, there isn’t.)
In my heart I cry out to the Lord. “Help us raise $150
to buy a sewing machine for a woman in a foreign land, so she can feed her
family in the coming days.”
There has always been within me a sense of what
Francis of Assisi must have felt like, when his soul became disgusted with the
luxury life, and threw it off. These days that reality has become more
prominent in our culture. Live like there is no end in sight.
While He walked the earth, coming to save mankind
from their lost way, Jesus told the true story of a man named Lazarus. It is,
as is true for all of Scripture, still very relevant to us today.
“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually
dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. "And a poor man named Lazarus was laid
at his gate, covered with sores, and
longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table;
besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.
"Now the poor man died and was carried away
by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was
buried. "In Hades he lifted up his
eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. "And he cried out and said, ' Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'
"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that
during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad
things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 'And besides all this, between us and you
there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to
you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' "And he said, 'Then I beg you, father,
that you send him to my father's house —
for I have five brothers — in order that he may warn them, so that they
will not also come to this place of torment.'
"But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the
Prophets; let them hear them.' "But
he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they
will repent!' "But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the
Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the
dead.'" Luke 16:19-17:31 (NASU)
I have decided to quit watching pro football and NASCAR. (Never
did like pro basketball or hockey. NASCAR occupied too much time in the past 20 years of my life.) Yes, I have been among those who got into it
when young, cheering for the home team to beat the arch rivals. But knowing the
vast amounts of money that those very few now make, while others go without,
convicts and prevents me from adding to their rich coffers, to play the games
people play.
When I stand before my Lord and He asks me, “What
did I do with the time and money entrusted to me?” I want to be able to respond
as Jesus did and say, “I was about my Father’s business.”
Each of us, having been given allotted time and
resources entrusted to us, must choose how we will use them. What we do with what
we have, during our remaining life here on earth, will be made known when we each
will give an account, standing before the throne of the Almighty God. All
things will be revealed when the books are opened.
What are you doing with your time and energy? I
encourage you to make it count for eternity.
Now think
on this,
Steve
Martin
Founder
Love For
His People. Inc.
P.S. We sure
could use your help to bless the families we do in Israel, India, Pakistan, Vietnam
and the hurting ones here in the USA. Please give out of the abundance you have
been given.
Love
For His People, Inc. is a charitable,
not-for-profit USA humanitarian organization started in 2010 to share the love
of the Father in the nations.
If
these messages minister to you, please consider sending a charitable gift of
$5-$25 today, and maybe each month, to help us bless families we know in
Israel, whom we consistently help through our humanitarian ministry. Your
tax deductible contributions receive a receipt for each donation. Fed. ID
#27-1633858.
Contribution
checks can be sent to:
Love
For His People, Inc. P.O. Box414 Pineville, NC 28134
Todah
rabah! (Hebrew – Thank you very much.)
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Now
Think On This #192 “Make It Count” by Steve
Martin
Date:
In the year of our Lord 2015 (10.19.15) Monday at 7:25 am in Charlotte, NC
All
previous editions of Now Think On This can be found on this
Blog, and on the website: Now Think On This
Ahava and shalom,
