It's amazing how God can cause a few incidents to converge in order to make a point.
I began my day as I usually do, sitting in my easy chair in our living room with my Bible and morning cup of coffee. While reading through Jeremiah, I came across this verse:
"A beautiful ... palace does not make a great king" (Jer. 22:15 NLT).
God sent this message by His prophet to Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, who was building a bigger and better house for himself on the backs of his unpaid and oppressed laborers. He thought that by building a big, beautiful palace it would speak well of his kingship. But God sent a scathing denunciation to inform him otherwise. Having a great palace doesn't make you a great person. Centuries later, Jesus said, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions" (Luke 12:15).
That verse from Jeremiah stuck with me as I started my day.
Later on, I dropped off our van to be serviced. The auto technician said it would take about an hour (it actually took about three), so I took a stroll. Eventually I walked by a cemetery and saw row after row of tombstones. I thought, "All the people in there are dead." (Very perceptive, don't you think?) "Every one of them was alive at some point, but now they're all dead. Someday I'm going to be dead." This thought no sooner crossed my mind, than I saw it - a tombstone that bore in big, capital letters the name FLETCHER.
That inscription stuck with me as I continued my walk.
This afternoon I was on my computer getting ready to write this blog, when I received a link to this following video clip of John Piper preaching to thousands of young people. This was the icing on the cake. Watch it; it's well worth your time.
Don't waste your life. Make it count for Christ.