ONE LIFE.
Life is very special. Each life is a unique gift. I was present at the birth of each of our children, now many years ago. It was unbelievable to think that such new life could emerge, inextricably linked to us as parents, yet separate and individual, with a destiny and purpose specially planned by God.
One life. A life full of possibility, a life dependent upon the choices we make and the paths we take. Each life changes the course of history. Each life determines what kind of world we live in. One life.
In a special way Jesus used His one life to change the destiny of human kind. He said that God’s Spirit anointed him to proclaim good news to the poor – and not just proclaim it but live it – freedom to captives, sight for blind, setting the oppressed free (Luke 4). This was the new kingdom He unleashed into peoples’ lives.
Then he called people to be part of this new society. “Follow me”, he would say. Levi the tax collector left his booth behind. Mary Magdalene left her demons behind. People from all walks of life became caught up with this Man, who saw in them, in their ‘one life’, something unique and special, full of hope and possibility, if only they would follow.
Jesus built these disparate and fractured human beings into a new society, a new community of people, called the church, who would keep alive that vision of a new kingdom, of a new way to live, who would live it out in their daily lives, and who would help introduce others to the King.
Today we live in a world where that vision is so often lost. Society paints a vision of self-indulgent pleasures and self-absorbed consumerism. As Jeremiah said of our Israelite forefathers, society offers broken cisterns that actually hold no water (2:13). Our one life has been reduced to doing whatever we like, and we are left dissatisfied, sometimes destroyed.
Even in the church it is easy to get caught in the status quo of daily and weekly routine, and to lose the vision. If we are not careful we can become self-serving for our own ends, even if given a spiritual veneer.
Yet I believe that we as God’s people are entrusted with a vision for God’s kingdom and a vision for God’s future that we must ever cherish. One life. One church. One life can change the destiny of hundreds. One life can inspire and instruct a generation. One life can influence the broader society as salt and light. Our one life as one church is the most potent force on this planet.
You have one life. What are you doing with it? What is the dream God has placed on your heart to do? Nurture it. Now is the time to direct your one life to that purpose. Let’s not allow our prevailing culture to sell us short and delude us with false idols.
Make the most of your one life. That is why you are here. Give it your best go.
(thanks to Scot McKnight for his recent book ‘One.Life’)