Just a few weeks ago, President Barack Obama ended his term, handing off the highest office in our land to (now) President Trump. Now, don’t worry: This isn’t a post about Trump, Obama, or politics. But that transition has me thinking about moments in which we have the opportunity to define ourselves, to determine the values we will live by and the legacy we will leave.
When you get elected president—even though your life is much longer than those four or eight years—what people remember about you is shaped by what you do during that time. Almost everything done before or after becomes a footnote to an incredibly intense defining moment as president.
You probably haven’t been elected president of anything lately, but there are still key moments in your life when you have to decide what is going to define the rest of your life and what values and principles are going to shape how you live.
Near the end of his life, the Apostle Paul gives a farewell speech that summarizes the values he’s lived by. He’s saying goodbye to the church leaders in Ephesus, where he’s spent the previous three years. As far as he knows, he’s never going to see any of those guys again. He is headed to Jerusalem and then to Rome, where he assumes he’s going to be martyred. (History tells us that he’s right.)
A man’s final words are probably the most significant; it’s what he most wants others to remember. If you were making a farewell speech, what would you include? A list of your accomplishments? Words of wisdom for how to be successful?
Paul’s last words are about generosity.
He says, “I coveted no one’s silver or gold or apparel …. by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:33, 35 ESV).
Paul thought a successful, blessed life was one in which you give more than you take. Why? Because that had been the defining characteristic of Jesus. Jesus’ whole life had been defined by giving, not receiving. On the night before he died, Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. I don’t know about you, but if I knew I was going to die the next day, I would have been like, “Look, tomorrow’s going to be a long day. Sorry guys, but this is ‘me time.’” But even then, Jesus served.
Is that how you look at your life?
In your marriage, do you serve your spouse more than you expect him or her to serve you? Whose preferences do you think more about? Whose comfort and happiness are you more devoted to?
What about in your friendships? In how you relate to your parents? Do you give more than you receive?
The key to happy, blessed relationships is to give more than you take.
What about your career? Do you look at your career primarily as a tool to get all you can? Or have you asked how your career might be used to give to the mission of God?
Maybe you make a lot of money, and that’s great. But God didn’t give you that blessing just to increase your standard of living. He gave it to you to increase your standard of giving.
Maybe you’re approaching retirement, and you see that chapter of your life as mainly “me time.” You think, “Finally, I can live at the beach and play golf!”
You can live like that, but the gospel says you’re actually short-changing yourself. The gospel says it is more blessed to give than to receive. If you have achieved financial independence, that is more time you can pour out more freely for God’s kingdom without being a financial burden on people. It’s time for you to discover the deep joy of giving, not the small thrill of taking.
I heard an older, wealthy man in our church say recently, “I want my last check to bounce because I gave it all away.”
Do you want people to look at your life and say, as they did of Paul, “He gave more than he took”? There’s only one way people will say that about you, and it comes from a change of identity: Do you look at your life as yours, or do you see it as given to you to multiply for God’s kingdom?
The first sees Jesus as a commodity. The second sees Jesus as life itself.
For more, be sure to listen to the entire message here.
