"And the waitress is practicing politics,
as the businessman slowly gets stone.
They're sharing a drink they call loneliness,
but it's better than drinking alone."
-from The Piano Man, by Billy Joel
This year, 2012, is turning out to be a very busy year for Americans. Beside just trying to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads, many people are spending much of their free time following the news and rooting for their particular candidates and political parties. If you follow My Gospel Project, you will see that I also spend a lot of time following the news and politics (See Today in the News).
And while that is not a bad thing - we should be concerned about what is going on in the world around us - it is too easy to fill up our lives with the 'non-essentials' and let the important things be left undone.
Ask yourself these questions: One hundred years from now, will it matter to you who was elected President of the United States in 2012? Will it matter if Obamacare was overturned or if the Social Security Administration goes broke?
One hundred years from now, will it matter to you if the United States has finally burned up its constitution and has replaced our flag with one issued to us from the United Nations?
Probably not. Most of us will be dead within a hundred years. I have already outlived 2 of my brothers, and while my doctor tells me I am in pretty good health (for my age!), I know that I will not live another hundred years.
Let me share with you what will matter - to you - one hundred years from now: The Bible! And the Bible says:
"Now learn a parable of the fig tree; when his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away." - Matthew 24:32-35
What will matter to you most one hundred years from now is what the Bible says in Hebrews 9:27:
"And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
If you are like me and you make To Do lists every day, please let me suggest that you put this right at the top of your To Do list:
To Do
1. Listen to The Most Important Question and Answer, by Dr. David Murray
This sermon is based on Acts 16:30,31:
"And brought them out and said, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' 'And they said, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.'
Latter day Puritan, Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones, gave this timeless advice:
"Stop and ask yourself: 'What am I doing?' You will be dead long before this world will ever be put right. What therefore will happen to you?'
And another latter day Puritan, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said:
"Look! Look! Look with solemn eye through the shades that part us from the world of spirits, and see that house of misery which me call hell! ...Remember that in that place there are spirits forever paying their debt to divine justice; but though some of them have been for these 4000 years sweltering in the flames, they are no nearer a discharge than when they began. And when 10,000 x 10,000 years shall have rolled away, they will no more have made satisfaction to God for their guilt than they have done up to now."
