Lifetime

I’m a people-watcher. Whether it’s in a country town in Western Australia, a village in Wales, or the amazing metropolis of Mumbai, I observe people in their activity and wonder whether they’re living out the fullness of their potential. Every person is so valuable.

Genesis Chapter 1 tells us that God, in the beginning, wanted to create humankind. We aren’t a random accident involving millions of years of unlikely beneficial mutations. He purposed every life and invested within us something unique and extremely exciting. ‘Let us make man in our image and likeness … so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them’(Genesis 1:26-27 NIV).

We are wanted, valuable, created in the image of God – male and female. We’re each created for a purpose. Our lives have meaning and are designed to count for something – not to be wasted.

In the 1970s the English band Pink Floyd produced an amazingly innovative album, entitled ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’. One song is called ‘Time’. Recently I read the lyrics of that song. The beginning speaks of the attitude of the young – life is long and it’s easy to waste time and fritter it away. The first section ends with the words ‘And then one day you find ten years have got behind you, no one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun’.

The next section ends with these very powerful words – ‘The time is gone, the song is over, thought I’d something more to say’. Wouldn’t it be awful to think that could be my song; I thought my life would count for more than this?

It can. Jesus tells us that He has come that we may have fullness (abundant, exceedingly full and overflowing) life. He doesn’t want us to settle for mediocrity, ‘bumping along the bottom’ in our living. In Jesus Christ we have access to the power of God for the fullness of a life lived in the light of true purpose and value.

Don’t fritter the precious gift of your life away on trivial pursuits, or as a consequence of wounds and negative experiences. We find true healing, restoration and freedom in Jesus so that we can soar. Wonder Woman, Superman – they have nothing on us who have the Spirit of life dwelling in us! Live your life in all its Christ-given fullness. It can count for eternity.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of life. Thank You too for the promise that, in Jesus, I have abundant life. Please lead me out of any mediocrity into the fullness of the destiny You have for me. Amen.