THINK ABOUT IT 8-5-24
WHAT WOULD YOU DO?
Someone once asked John Wesley how he would spend the next day if he knew he was going to die the next evening. Wesley gave a list of his preaching engagements for the day and then concluded by saying he would then “retire to my room at 10 o’clock, commend myself to my Heavenly Father, lie down to rest, and wake up in Glory”.
That reminds me of what my schedule used to be as opposed to what it is now. Had someone back then asked me the same question I would have answered much differently than I would answer today. I can’t travel and average preaching three times a day as I once did. So, were someone to ask me what I would do if I knew I would die tomorrow evening I would answer, “I would do what I can from from where I am to please God and then die in peace”.
I’m confident that my answer in the second instance would be just as pleasing to God as in the former. I don’t have to do what I used to do to please God. Nor do I have to do what Wesley did or what you are doing. All I have to do is to do the best I can. And it’s the same way with you.
God rewards us according to our faithfulness, and that requires different things from different people. You don’t have to do as much as somebody else, or as much as you used to do to please God and gain a reward. If we do the best we can we will hear the Lord say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant “(Matt. 25:21).
Think about that. Even if your abilities have diminished, or you are confined to a nursing home, or a sick bed, there is something you can do for God – something that will bring a great reward in heaven. You can pray and you can probably, by some means communicate with others. Hopefully you can say, as Paul did, “ For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.“( 2 Tim.4:6-8). “ “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”Revelation 22:20 - HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
Humble, Tx.
