© 2013 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)
As a child I played a game called “Careers.” This game, attempts to simulate life. Each player begins by defining a personal goal for success which consists of a 100 point mixture chosen from three categories of achievement. These categories are “fame,” “happiness,” and “money.” The first to achieve his or her personal goal wins the game.
Throughout our lives, we each invest time and energy to achieve our goals. Some focus more on money. Others prefer simple pleasures. Still others pursue fame.
In the game of Careers, the game is placed back on the shelf once a winner is declared. The winning goal mixture has nothing to do with what happens to players after the game is over.
Real people, however, must deal with the issue of eternity. A successful Air Force Colonel, with whom I worked quite closely, once told me, “When you’re dead, you’re dead and that’s that!” However, I was never convinced he really believed this.
Jesus asked His disciples the following penetrating question: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul (Matthew 16:26)?” Much of humanity is so preoccupied with achieving fame, happiness, and wealth that they seldom consider this crucial question posed by Jesus.
The Bible tells us that, “…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). It also tells us that “…the wages of sin is death… (Romans 6:23).” Thus, all of us have earned sin’s wages – death! However, the same Jesus, who asked the penetrating question, above, about the value of a man’s soul, also said, “…I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:10-11).”
In pursuing your life goals, have you squandered your life on fame, happiness, and wealth, while ignoring the far more important question of where your soul will spend eternity? Will you have to leave all of your fame, wealth, and happiness to enter an eternity of misery in the fire of eternal death, or will you cry out to Jesus to save you from sin by His blood which He shed for sinners?
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