Jesus said, “More than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants”. Matthew 6:33
When we die, they put your name on a stone, the date you were born, a dash, and the date you died. And when we get to heaven, we will be asked what we did with our “dash.”
There would be nothing worse than getting to the end of your life and saying, I wish I had lived differently.
John Ortberg, writer and preacher from the US, says “We need to ask ourselves what we are doing (or not doing) with our lives now, that could lead to deep regret”.
In other words, it is very important we spend some time evaluating our lives before it’s too late. I think we all want to live our lives without regret, and be able to say, I spent my life wisely doing the things that were important.
And because there is no rewind button for the actions and words we say and do, this is worth a periodic “stop and think about it.”
Bronnie Ware, a palliative care nurse, wrote a book called The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. Ware discovered that there were five common regrets of people facing death:
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I’d stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish I had risked letting myself be happier.
This weekend we are looking at how to live a regret-free life. Because life is too short, and too valuable, to waste our “dash.”
Living well with you,
Pastor Brian
