Day 2792 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV

So much noise. So much effort. So much striving to be seen and heard in this assumption that we'll have lived more meaningful lives if someone remembers us. If we can just leave our mark in this place then maybe it will have been worth all the effort we put forth to matter to this world. If we're loud enough then perhaps our words will echo long after we're gone. If we build ourselves these kingdoms of gain and glory then maybe a part of us will live forever. Maybe we can somehow be known both here and wherever this road leads later on.

I mentioned the other day about how I had read through Ecclesiastes and found myself just enamored by the humor within it. The author talking about how everything is meaningless. All of these empty promises that we're chasing after. All of these ideals that humanity has idolized. All of these lies that tell us that we can make ourselves known in a world that doesn't care if we're here or not. All of this time spent building a name for ourselves when upon our final breath our names will likely be nothing more than letters carved on a stone block above our returning to dust.

It's all meaningless!

That's been the point that I've been trying to get across over the last several posts. All of this noise we're making isn't accomplishing anything. All the screaming and yelling that this world offers does nothing but create chaos from which nothing good can possibly come. All of the time spent bickering about our opinions is only time wasted avoiding the truth that will one day prove unavoidable. This world has completely forgotten how this all started, and chosen to ignore the promise of how it's all going to end.

We spend so much time focused on ourselves and what we're accomplishing and what we're wanting and what we can manage to forge for ourselves. We waste our lives looking around us and don't realize that there's more than this. There's more than what we see now. There's more than a temporary platform from which we can yell about our opinions. There's more than these groups or movements that come and vanish as quickly as the wind. There's more than a life spent building a kingdom for ourselves that will ultimately prove to be nothing more than a house of cards.

I think what we've completely failed to see is that we don't need to make a name for ourselves. We have a name. We have an identity. We have a purpose. We have been given the blueprints to a life that matters. But we toss them aside in this ongoing effort to do it our way thinking that doing it our way is going to bring us more success and therefore more glory. We just can't help but cling to this desire to make it all about us.

Friends, we have to stop looking at what's going on around us and give our attention to what lies ahead. This is all going to vanish one day! So why spend these lives building here? Why plant roots so deeply in ground that is destined to no longer exist? Why make so much noise only for it to be forgotten? Why is this world and our time in it always our main focus? What is so special about living a life that gets you remembered?

I don't want to be remembered. I don't want statues or holidays or festivals celebrated in my honor. I have no honor outside of Christ! None of us do. None of us have anything outside of Him in fact. So why spend so much time focused on so many things that are not Him? Why waste all this time seeking our own glory when it won't matter as we stand before God and recount what we've done with the time He has given us?

And that's my whole point! It's from Him. Our lives are a gift from Him. Our time is a gift from Him. Every opportunity, every experience, every interaction, every single moment and every word we get to speak is from Him. And if it's all from Him, shouldn't it be for Him?

Don't listen to me. Don't follow me. Don't glorify me. I'm begging you! Don't take my word for all of these verses that I share. Read them yourself. Think about them. Pray about them. Study them. I'm just here to point. I'm a road sign. I am an ambassador of the One who actually has the power and authority to do something that matters. I can't save. I can't heal. I can't rescue or redeem. All I can do with my time here is point to the One who can.

There are so many messages in this place. Everyone has relegated themselves to being walking billboards. We plaster ourselves in logos. We echo the taglines. We listen to what the powerful and popular yell and then simply regurgitate and repeat. We jump on all these bandwagons thinking that doing so gives us yet one more opportunity to be seen, to be heard, to be known, and hopefully, ultimately remembered. But if my life is about me then it's not about Him. And if it's not about Him then it's worthless because He is the only hope that any of us have.

We can scream the popular messages. We can work our fingers to the bone building something that's appreciated by the masses. We can give our every waking moment to fashioning ourselves to be everything this world wants us to be. We can learn what people want to hear and offer it up every time we open our mouths. We can be everything this place wants us to be, and we will find endless praise and glory along that path. But it stays. It stays here.

For a good portion of my life, I tried to be star of the show. I tried to have as many friends as I could get, and I did and said whatever it took to accomplish that goal. I cheered for all the teams. I listened to all the popular songs. I wore the cool brands. I made everyone laugh and feel comfortable. And as I sit here, it's all already gone. Life changes faster than we know. And so for us to live as if what's happening at this moment in time is all that matters is utterly foolish and completely wasted.

Friends, the only message that matters, the only message that we can share that makes a lasting impact, the only message we have to offer that can do anything good is that found at the close of this verse. "Be reconciled to God."

All of these other distractions and noises and worries and pursuits and dreams and goals and ideals and idols and plans and paths are meaningless. Please don't get lost in the nonstop flood of nonsense that points in every direction but toward the cross. That is all that matters because that is the key to life. Jesus is everything, and without Him we have nothing.

Please be reconciled to Him. Not to me. Not to your best friend from 20 years ago. Not to the cute girl who just moved in down the hall. Not to your boss at work. Not to the bully at school. Not to some famous person who doesn't know you exist. Not to a popular brand that all the hip people are wearing. Not to this warped society. Not to this fallen world. But to Christ. Because when all of this is over, and our last words have faded, and our cardboard kingdoms have fallen, He will be all we have left.

That's how we live a life that matters. Not by building something for ourselves or by ourselves. But by devoting our every word and every action to the One who has built the only path to eternal peace. We cannot compete with that gift, and trying will only mean that we get in the way of the Way.

Make no mistake, you can be seen and heard and loved and honored and praised in this place. But if our lives don’t help people see Him, hear His words, love His promise, honor His sacrifice, and praise His Name, then we have accomplished absolutely nothing but living as a distraction and detraction from the message we’ve been given and the One that it’s supposed to point to.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold