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JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2009
VOLUME 10, ISSUE 1

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L I V I N G B Y T H E S P I R I T

 

Investing for eternity

Elizabeth Inrig

 

Yesterday I threw it in the waste paper basket. It's not the kind of paper you have to shred; no one wants a December calendar with penciled scratches and red stars on special dates. There was no reason to worry about identity theft, and everything written was done and finished, never to be dealt with again.

I reflected on the ease with which I tossed out the very paper that had defined my life for 31 days. In retrospect, the energy required to follow the plans and attend the events on that page overwhelmed me. Now, this twelfth month of 2008 was thrown in the trash—gone like a vapor. Or was it?

My mind went back to one of the favorite places our group visited in November on the Holy Land trip. We stood on Mt. Nebo in the land of Jordan where Moses (escorted by the mysterious hand of the Lord) had peered longingly into the Promised Land. He'd finished writing the copy of his fifth book of God's will for His people. Now, he gazed sadly below on the land of God's promise: Jericho in front of him, Galilee to the North, and the winding Jordan River as it dumped into the Dead Sea in the South. He had forfeited the right to enter this land because of a moment of anger. We have no record of the date or cause of Moses' death or how the Lord transferred his spirit from earth to heaven. We only have a brief reference to it by Jesus' half brother Jude because of the scuffle the devil and Michael the archangel had over Moses' bones (Jude 1:9).

But tucked away in the first Psalm of Book IV in Israel's song book, Moses gives us important insights about the finished calendars of our lives. This is from a man who had to learn to fear the Lord while leading two million not-so-easy Israelites through rugged terrain for 40 years!

Psalm 90:9-17

"For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom… Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be shown to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!"

So—that 2008 calendar we threw into the trash basket isn't just a collection of full days or busy activities. It has the potential of representing the best set of times and numbers we could ever have invested this year!

The smallest choices we make about how we spend days and hours matter to the Lord. It is 2009! Why not count your days (70 or 80 years minus your present age) so you can figure out how to wisely invest the time you have left for eternal matters. Any investment of heart, mind, and work for the King won't crash like the stock market did this past year. Why not ask the Lord for a heart of wisdom so what you do will be marked by His favor, motivated by His power, and established for His glory and the good of future generations! †

 

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Elizabeth Inrig is director of women's ministries at Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Redlands, California, where her husband Gary is the senior pastor. She is also an adjunct professor and Director of the Women's Ministry Program at Talbot Seminary. She holds a MABS degree from Dallas Theological Seminary and a D. Min. from Trinity International University. She and Gary have three children and eight grandchildren.