One More Day
If you only had one more day, how would you spend it?
Probably not at work. Or paying bills. Or worrying about buying the newest video game. Instead, we’d probably spend it doing the things we love with the people we love. That might be going to Disneyland or spending the day at the beach or maybe just spending the day at home eating our favorite meal. We’d talk to one another, share our thoughts and feelings, give lots of hugs, hold hands, and pray about what happens next. Because when it comes right down to it, we know in our heart what is truly important. Jesus tells us, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” And he uses the word “treasure” to broaden the scope of things we store up for ourselves. It’s more than just money. It’s how we spend our time, how we share our talent, and where we give our effort. And when we find ourselves with just one more day or even one more week, one more month, or one more year, it forces us to open our eyes to what’s truly important. But for the most part, we don’t think about life that way. We live life as if we had forever instead of one more day. We trifle away our lives worrying about the unimportant, investing in things that ultimately don’t matter, and then later regretting our decisions. Let’s change that.
Because you don’t have forever.
None of us do. Not even Jesus. So where is your treasure? Where does it lie? Most of us would say it’s with our family and friends. Some might even say it’s with God. But if you look closely at your life, where is it really? That’s the question we need to ask because it’s so easy to fool ourselves into thinking we’ve got our priorities straight. But maybe it’s more out of whack than we like to believe. I’m guessing, whoever is in charge of the iPhone must be a Christian because every week I get this little guilt trip early Sunday morning. About 9am, right when I’m getting to church, I open up my computer and at the top right corner, a little box pops up with my screen time for the week. And I think, did I really spend that much time on the computer? Now to be fair, about 90% of what I do weekly for the church takes place on my computer. Whether that’s working on the sermon, doing the weekly email, creating slides for worship, or doing ZOOM meetings, most of it takes place on this 13” screen on my desk. But if I’m honest, I spend a decent amount of “me” time on my computer, too. I love playing Magic the Gathering Arena online. I play Marvel SNAP. I hunt for bargains on eBay and Amazon. And I’m not alone. They did a study in China where they track early onset myopia and about 80% of teens and young adults are near-sighted. [1] All linked to too much screen time and not enough getting outdoors. Those kinds of problems lead to things like glaucoma, cataracts, and retinal detachment! And it’s not just in China but the entire world. In America, we went from 25% of the population being myopic in 1971 to 41.6% in 2017.[2] It’s estimated that worldwide, 40% of the world will be myopic by 2030.[3] What does that say about where our treasure lies? And more importantly, where it does not.
Obviously, that doesn’t mean you have to throw away your phones.
Or give all your money to charity. Or quit your job to spend time with your family. Our phones can be incredibly helpful, not only for work or personal time but for keeping in touch with those family and friends who are important to us. And you need money to care for those same family and friends – whether it’s to feed them or clothe them or pay for medicine to care for them. And without your job, could you save enough money to ever get to spend quality time with them? It’s about priorities. About setting them and keeping them. Because we are challenged all the time to keep them straight. We get pulled in a million different directions and it can be hard and frustrating trying to keep up with all of it. We probably feel a little bit like that Aesop fable about “The Miller, The Son, and The Donkey.” We can please some of the people all of the time or all of the people some of the time, but we can’t please all of the people all of the time. So, it’s important to set and keep our priorities and not let them get lost in the shuffle of life. The passage we are about to hear today is from a group of letters in the Bible called the “Pastoral Letters” because each one is written by Paul to help Timothy and Titus lead their churches. And in this first letter to Timothy, Paul gives advice on a wide number of topics. But we are going to focus on one. Paul is offering advice to Timothy on how to preach about “true wealth” and how we confuse material wealth and spiritual wealth. As you read this passage, listen for how that challenge speaks to you. Hear now the Word of God.
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. – 1 Timothy 6:17-19
When Paul writes about “those who are rich in this present world” he’s talking about you.
About all of us. We don’t have to be rich financially for this to apply to us. We could be rich in other ways like time. And by that I don’t mean we have more time in our day than others. But when we are young, we approach life like we’re going to live forever. We don’t often think if we should be spending our time somewhere else because there’s so much of it left. The days in front of us outnumbers the days behind us. We are rich in time! But does that mean we should waste it? Paul is talking to everyone who has an abundance. Of anything. Of money. Of time. Of energy. Of useful limbs. Of wisdom. Of experience. And in that way, he’s talking to everyone, because no matter how old we are, we are rich in something. And Paul is telling us that in whatever ways we have an abundance, to use them not for building up more for ourselves, but to help others. To be rich instead in “good deeds” rather than anything else. And in that way, we are not only making the world a better place, but we are laying a foundation for the next one. I like how Paul puts it, “so that (we) may take hold of the life that is truly life!”
Take the time now to plan ahead for the future.
Don’t wait until it’s too late to do what needs to be done. Because when those opportunities pass us by, we can’t always get them back. One regret I often hear is not spending enough time with family. Skipping those games your kids wish you had attended. Missing those meals because something just couldn’t wait. Ditching your friends to be with some girl you just met even though you’d been planning this for months. You think, “They’ll understand.” And they might. But at what cost? Now of course there are times when you really can’t get away, when it might mean your livelihood or an opportunity that won’t come around again. But a lot of times, we sacrifice the very things that are the most important to us just because we can. But you never get those moments back. It’s not like you can gather your family up on a Sunday morning and say, “Okay, I know I promised to have dinner with you all week and I didn’t, so here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll stop by IHOP on the way to church and have a huge stack of pancakes! Then after church we’ll go over to Olive Garden and have as many breadsticks as you want. Then we’ll go out to dinner at Red Lobster for those yummy cheddar biscuits and that will make up for all the dinners I missed, and we’ll bond and everything will be okay.” It just doesn’t work like that. One extravagant moment doesn’t make up for all the missed opportunities, all the disappointment. True devotion comes in the choices we make day by day.
Linda Ellis wrote a wonderful poem called “The Dash” that captures all of this.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] https://www.npr.org/2023/10/18/1206701199/how-our-tech-habits-are-causing-our-eyes-to-elongate-which-causes-myopia
[2] https://www.nei.nih.gov/about/news-and-events/news/myopia-close-look-efforts-turn-back-growing-problem
[3] Ibid NPR “How Tech Habits…”
Craig's Corner 