I just read an article in Parade magazine about Professor Randy Pausch. He is dying with pancreatic cancer and was invited to give his last lecture at Carnegie Mellon University. There is also a video of his lecture on parade.com. Many of the things he had to say were inspiring but he said at the outset of the lecture that he wasn't going to say anything about God. I don't know what he believes about God or if he believes in God at all. His lecture just got me thinking about what I would want to do and say if I knew I was entering eternity. There are a few things that really matter in life but, like everyone else, I let so many other things occupy my time and energy. If we knew the end was near what would be important? What would we want our legacy to be? Here are a few questions I asked myself:
#1 Am I ready to meet God?
I want to live my life in a way that I will hear Jesus say "Well done" whenever it is that I leave this world. I believe we need to seek God now with sincere hearts. If we do, we will find the treasure that is worth more than can be realized in this world. I fell at an altar in a little church years ago and poured my heart out to God. I was filled with the Holy Ghost and have not been the same since that night. I'm so grateful for the touch of God.
#2 Have I lived a life of integrity?
It seems that it is easy to rationalize any decision that we make. We can say that we did something because we were entitled or we were making up for a past wrong. I believe that the life of a Christian must be a life of integrity. When we have integrity we can look at ourselves in the mirror and say that we lived our life in a way that was pleasing to God and have a good reputation among those who know us. Building Christian character is building our character on the foundation of God's character. When I am gone I want people to be able to say that I was a man of integrity.
#3 Have I loved my family?
Family is a precious gift from God. I have been married to Susan for 32 years. She is the love of my life, the woman of my dreams. It's not that things have always been easy or that we have never had a trial. I believe our success comes from our commitment to God and to each other. We have never seen life any other way than being together. We nurture our love for each other and don't want it to ever wane. We understand that everyday life is sometimes boring and there are long stints of the same old thing. But we will never let that get us off track. We will always rekindle the spark that drew us together in the first place. We have two sons that have grown up to be fine men. I want their love and respect. I want for them to have the kind of family life that we had when they were at home. I think that they had a happy childhood and wanted what they saw in Mom & Dad. Most of all I want them to lead their families to a relationship with God that will keep them strong. We fail to tell our families enough how much we love them. I love you all and have been tremendously blessed.
#4 Have Others Been Blessed By My Life?
I want to do all that I can to be a blessing every day to someone. This gets lost in daily life sometimes. It is our duty to provide for our families and we are busy about that business. I have always believed that work is a blessing from God and the ability to make a living is one of His great blessings. So I want to be thankful that God has blessed us in that area while at the same time doing my best to influence someone to give their heart to God. Nothing we ever achieve in this world will ever be as important as achieving salvation.
There are many other things that could be asked. How about your life today? What questions would you ask of yourself?
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