What about the dash?
When we were in our teens and twenties, we liked to believe we had all the time in the world to do stuff. I am 39 years old, and 19 years ago I felt invincible and all the good, safe, and moral things I wanted to do could wait until I was older, and therefore wiser.
If you knew me in my twenties, you never actually knew the ‘real me’. You knew a seasonal version of me. We were severely underfunded, and the writing team was going through a lot.
God is concerned about the dash?
We tend to take those years for granted because we see older people and think, “wow I have a long time to go to make up for whatever foolishness I do now.” And when our life is over, they make a big deal about the year we were born and the year we died (1972-2020 for example). We always focus on the dates but what about the dash?
God is concerned about that dash. Just like the parable about the talents. What did you do with that dash I gave you? Did you make the world a better place? Did you try to better yourself and the people around you? Is all you have to show for yourself is a nice house, a car, and a full 401k?
Read: Learning How to Follow
We are not all in the same boat. But we are in the same storm though. Some of us have yachts, some have canoes, and some are just drowning. We should be kind and help whoever, whenever we can. If you are one of those people that says, “Hey I made it out just fine, and they will too”, as an excuse to not help anyone. News flash…you did not make it out just fine.
Being Christ-like
John 15:12 says, my command is this, love each other as I have loved you. The thing is when we wrong someone, we become the world’s greatest lawyers. When others do wrong against us, we become the world’s best judges. What if we just kept it simple and loved everyone the way that Christ loved us. Then we wouldn’t sit at a light and judge someone on the corner with a sign that says, “please help”.
Jesus never turned people away, but for some reason, we have great justifications for not utilizing our dash time and being Christ-like. But they will become dependent, they need to pull themselves up by the bootstraps, that is not what I pay taxes for. Have you used any of these excuses or heard anyone else use these.
In John 21 starting around verse 15 Jesus had been appearing to his disciples and his message was clear. If you love me feed my sheep, take care of my sheep. He did not start off with making sure they are drug tested, make this amount of money, or belong to this political party. It is a simple message.
When we are on our deathbed no one says out loud, “if only I had spent more hours working for Company X to complete that project.” They are always concerned if they raised their children right, did they love their spouse the right way. Don’t wait until you are at the end of your dash to realize that there are still things you can do to make this world a better place.
There is an old joke that asks, “How do you eat an elephant?” The answer is one bite at a time. The task of doing good things in this world seems daunting but if each of us does what we can do it is much more manageable.
All God wants is all you got. Give your dash all you got and when you get to heaven, God can say “well done my good and faithful servant.” That is what the dash is about. That birth year and that death year matter but not as much as what we do with that dash. Ask yourself, what about the dash?
Prescott Williamson is a Bible-believing Christian. He is a husband, a father, and someone who believes that there is a little humor to be found in whatever situation God sends your way. He was born in the small islands of the Bahamas but now lives in the Suburbs of Fort Worth Texas, which is basically the same thing. He enjoys TV, reading, blogging and serving in his church (especially on the days they serve donuts). You can see what I have been thinking about lately on my blog www.prescottascoolbreeze.com.
Oops. I mean Life is not feet up in a chair, even in retirement. Please delete my first comment. Thank you.