When It’s Over, What Will Be the Measure of Your Life?

We measure lots of things: Waistlines, heights of our growing kids, amounts of specific ingredients in a recipe, dimensions of a room, “wingspans” of aspiring professional athletes. Good carpenters excel at measuring – they measure twice, then cut once. Perhaps the most important measure of all, however, is the measure of a person’s life – the impact that endures long after they’re gone.

 

One phrase often used for this is “leaving a legacy." As we grow older, it’s something many of us think about increasingly. Because when all has been said and done, the measure of our lives won’t be how much money we earned, stuff we accumulated, titles we earned at work, places we visited, or other tangible things like that. A legacy reflects the mark we’ve made, the impact we had on the lives of people encountered along life’s journey.

 

When we think legacy, we tend to think about the accomplishments of famous people – George Washington, Marie Curie, Henry Ford, Albert Einstein, Rosa Parks, Elvis Presley, Mother Teresa. And without question they made invaluable contributions to our world. But we don’t have to be celebrated statesmen, inventors, scientists, entertainers or humanitarians to leave a legacy. We all will leave one, for better or worse.

 

Recently, a friend of mine, a mentor of sorts for a couple of years, passed from this life. Before I had the bright idea to take drum lessons again – decades after the last time I held drumsticks – I’d never heard of Bill Brewer. Turned out he was a celebrity of sorts in the world of musical entertainment, particularly that of country music.

 

Bill’s career spanned several decades. Another friend, also a drummer, described him as “the closest thing Chattanooga has ever had to a drumming legend. And we have produced some amazing talent from here.” And yet, while drumming expertise will always be part of what he’s remembered for, Bill’s greatest legacy was the impact he had on his students – mostly younger people – who developed into skilled drummers in their own right under his tutelage. 

 

For years he groomed drummers who played at our church’s various venues, and as his wife, Milagra, said, “his students will cherish the memory of Mr. B as their drum teacher and mentor.”

 

A committed Christ follower, Bill had a literal “come to Jesus moment” years ago when he experienced a serious accident in his van while driving back from one of his concert gigs. He escaped with only cuts and bruises, but that event helped him realize it was time to reorder his priorities, including his marriage. 

 

Even though he loved playing drums and remained in demand, Bill chose to devote the rest of his life to serving the Lord very intentionally, including playing regularly with the worship teams at our church. But his greatest impact was teaching drumming – and imparting to his students what it means to have an active faith in Christ. 

 

During my lessons with him we often spent a portion of the time talking about the Scriptures and the exhortation to “do your work for the Lord…knowing you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward” (Colossians 3:23-24). Well before Bill was diagnosed with cancer, we had frequently discussed how his legacy ultimately would carry on through the lives and hearts of the students he had trained.

 

After many years of enduring and enjoying the grind of being on the road playing country music, he had discovered the truth of Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

 

Of course, we can’t all be drummers and drum teachers. But whatever God has called us to do, whatever gifts He’s entrusted to us, we can use to serve and honor Him – and to point others to Him, helping them to see and understand what it means to live one’s faith on a daily basis, imperfectly but consistently.

 

We can do this as an educator, physician or nurse, contractor or construction worker, retail clerk or salesperson, engineer or CPA, writer or editor, chef or baker, attorney or law enforcement officer, airline pilot or Uber driver, executive or administrative assistant, or volunteer. As Jesus challenged His disciples shortly before ascending to heaven, “…you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

 

Whatever we do, wherever we go, we can be like Joshua who declared, “as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). Our determination to do so will truly be the measure of our lives. As British missionary C.T. Studd wrote in a simple poem, 

“Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, 

Only what’s done for Christ will last.” 

What Will Happen ‘Just a Few Minutes from Now’?

Have you thought much about eternity lately? Probably not. For most of us, just getting through today is enough of a challenge. I do know that, as one young student told her teacher, “Forever is a really long time,” and it seems to me, eternity is forever and then some.

Whether we like to think about it or not, eternity is in the future for every one of us. And even if we have many years of life on earth remaining, when viewed from an eternal perspective, it’s still just blip on the radar screen of time. So, how are we to proceed? The Scriptures can offer some useful insights.

 

Even an extremely long life – 80, 90 or even 100 years – is just a “vapor,” according to James the apostle. He wrote, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist [vapor] that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:3-14).

 

Well, that’s a pretty pessimistic way of looking at things, don’t you think? Many of us already have plans for vacations next year, are contemplating a new car, or maybe changing careers. Thinking about our lives as a “vapor” or “mist” is kind of discouraging. Maybe, but in the eternal scheme of things, it’s true.

 

An old friend of mine and a former boss, Ted DeMoss, used to give a talk called “Just a Few Minutes from Now.” He’d reflect on family members or friends who had died and gone to heaven, musing that even if he lived for a long time, in terms of eternity he’d be seeing them again “just a few minutes from now.”

 

As you get older and see more and more friends and family members leaving this life, you think about things like this more often. It’s not morbid, just realistic. You start to assess what you’ve already done and what you hope to do yet, the Lord willing. Another friend of mine calls it “living in the dash,” referring to the dash nestled between the date of birth and date of death on a tombstone.

 

This makes it all the more imperative to take to heart the admonition of Colossians 3:23-24, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”

 

It was British missionary C.T. Studd who wrote, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last. Only one life, yes only one, soon will its fleeting hours be done.” Again, he wasn’t being melancholy or morose; Studd was acknowledging the “vaporish” nature of life and the importance of striving to leave the best mark possible before it ends.

 

For some of us, the first step is making certain where we’ll be going when the door to this life closes and the doorway to the rest of eternity opens. The apostle Peter referred to this when he wrote, “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble” (2 Peter 1:10).

 

How can we make God’s calling, His “election” sure? The Scriptures teach there is only one way. Jesus Christ boldly declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). We find this affirmed in Acts 4:12. While speaking to members of the Jewish Sanhedrin, Peter asserted, “This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

 

As we consider everything we’re looking forward to, our dreams, plans and expectations, it’s easy to reason, “Yeah, but I’ve got lots of time. I can deal with that later.” Maybe – but maybe not. Speaking to His disciples not only about death but also the end of time as we know it, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away. But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come” (Mark 13:31-33).

 

We find a vivid illustration of this in 1 Corinthians 15:52, concerning Christ’s second coming. It states, “…we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:52).

As we go through the busyness of each day, all of our commitments and challenges, we should always keep in mind what lies ahead “just a few minutes from now.”