Monday, July 5, 2010

Forever Twenty One (ramble alert)

This is my Twenty First blogpost here at blogger.com. This is also my twenty first year of life. Hmm...

I have graduated highschool, attended college and gotten a driver's license. I have held a full time job. I have traveled to many far away places (through the air) and seen much of the world. I have bought a house. I have fallen in love with and married my dreamboat. I have had a baby girl. I have experienced true joy, deep sorrow, agonizing heartbreak as only an NF can, the thrill of loving and being loved in return. Most people never get to do half these things in their whole lives. In a world full of poverty and suffering I have been blessed beyond description.

I have a wonderful life. But what does all of this really mean? Is it really worth anything at all? When it all comes down to the end and we are all seen for what we truly are, what will be left?

I remember my dad asking a little me on many occasions as I played in our yard "If the world were to end right now, and God looked at you and said, 'Why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say?"

I personally try to work hard, love my family and be kind to others. I have heard many people say the equivalent of, "I believe in God, and I try to be a good person and live a good life. So I am alright." Is it good enough to be "good enough?" Will being a "pretty decent person" who "lived a good life" stand up to perfection when we are called to accont for how we spent our time?

"For ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." -Romans 3:23 "The wages of sin is death..." -Romans 6:23

Nope. "All" means everybody. And we have all fallen short. The best of us are just as good as the worst of us. No one can stand up to the Perfection of Sinless.

What matters most is the Love of my Creator and the Sacrifice of my Savior.

"But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord... and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." -Phillipians 3:7-12


Have I lived my twenty one years to the fullest that I can, running in pursuit of my God? Or have I too often settled for "good enough," lived for myself and fallen into complacency? What do I truly have to show for my life when it is boiled down and shaken out and examined under a microscope? I have the priceless blood of my Savior. That is all.