There is a lot that I want to do with my life. I have a lot of dreams. After all, I’m still pretty young. As I enter the very beginning of my 20’s, I have begun to reflect on the hundreds of things I’d like to get done before I die. There’s a lot to explore in this big world we have laid out before us, yet we have so little time. Some of my desires are perhaps a bit trivial or self-serving, while others are more honorable. Most, I think, are a mix of both. I long to one day get married and maybe even have kids. I’d like to visit another country, or even just a few more states. It’d be great to get started on a career, as well. Particularly one where I feel I am best serving God and others with my skills. There’s a million different hikes I want to complete, trips I want to take, people I want to meet, movies I want to see, books I want to read, skills I want to learn, and goals I want to reach. In the end, I just want to experience this life to the fullest.

In my more self-centered moments (which I’d say are most of my moments), I look forward to the life ahead of me with excitement (and a little bit of anxiety). I can’t wait to get to some of these things, Lord willing.
But then, from time to time I have moments like I did in church the other day, as we sang In Christ Alone. A line towards the end of the song really got me thinking about my future. The line reads, “Til He returns, or calls me home, here in the love of Christ I stand.”

Til He returns or calls me home. Huh. What an interesting line. It places before us only two options for how this all plays out. There are only two ways that this can possibly go down for those of us who follow Christ. One day, we will either be called home, or Christ will return. That is how this life on earth ends for 100% of believers. It’s a sobering truth, and one that really made me think. All of the sudden, as I reflected on those words I was overcome with an eager longing for something altogether different than the life goals I had set before me. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to have Christ. In that brief moment, the return of Christ became a most precious thought. I realized the overwhelming truth of Paul’s words: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil 3:8).

As Paul writes this, he is on the other end of the life spectrum. He’s not a young kid in his 20’s looking forward to everything he is going to accomplish in his life. He is an older man, looking back on all that he’s done.
From the perspective of Jewish culture, Paul had done quite well. In fact, just verses earlier in his letter to the Philippians Paul went through a list of all the great things he did as a Pharisee. He accomplished everything he had set out to do as a young kid, and probably more. He should have been proud of what he had achieved, and yet he is not. Far from it, actually, as he emphatically calls all of his religious accomplishments “rubbish”.

What? His life’s accomplishments are rubbish? How depressing a thought! I can’t think of anything more devastating than coming to the end of my life, looking back on what I had accomplished, and calling it rubbish. But Paul is not depressed. He’s not even disappointed with his life’s work. Elsewhere he actually says that he “fought the good fight” (2 Tim. 4:7). An unfulfilling life is not Paul’s underlying motivation for his declaration of all things as loss. Instead, Paul says this because he understands the infinite value of knowing Christ. He knew that to die was gain, because to die meant he would see Christ face to face. Paul did not see this life as pointless, he just had a proper understanding of what it meant to be a foreigner in a foreign land.

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“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.” – C.S. Lewis

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Every single day that God has granted to us in this life is not only a gift, but a calling. We are here for a reason. We were made for good works (Eph 2:10), evangelism (Matt. 28:16-20), worship, love, and so much more. There is a lot to do in this life, and we should do it! Christians should be the most ambitious people in the world, because we know the one for whom we work. Do all you do to the glory of God. Enjoy the life He has given you, and run this race with endurance. But as you do so, don’t lose sight of the most valuable thing there is: Christ. Remember that one day He is coming for You, and that day will be far more glorious than the completion of any bucketlist.

I want to do all those things I’ve set out to do in life. I have goals, and I pray that God would give me the motivation to pursue those things in a godly manner. More than anything, though, I long to see My Savior. As I reflect upon the life ahead of me at this young age, I realize that everything I want in this life is rubbish in comparison to this glorious truth: Christ is coming! I need not fear a short life on this earth. A short life does not strip me of joy. Those things which I would have accomplished I count as loss, for there is no greater joy than knowing Christ fully!

My greatest life goal is not to get married. It’s not to graduate or find a successful career. It’s not to be a great dad or good friend or dynamic cultural influence. My greatest life goal is for Christ to return, or one day call me home. I am more excited for that day than any other. And it is precisely that hope that keeps me going.

Til He Returns, or calls me home, here in the love of Christ I stand.

unsplash-logoKelli Stirrett