Most Important Decision You Should Make In Your Lifetime

As I grow older, I am increasingly amazed how quickly time passes. It's like the rewinding of a videotape: The closer it gets to home, the faster it goes! So it is with each of us.

What if someone came to you and offered to deposit P86,400 into your bank account every morning? Wouldn't that be heavenly? There's only one catch: You must wisely spend or invest the entire amount every day. Any squandering of the money is not acceptable. Nothing can be carried over, and anything left in the account will be lost to you at midnight. Of course, another P86,400 will be deposited the following morning. 

What would you do in this situation? You bet! You would be sure to spend all the money or invest it wisely!

Well, this happens to you every day. Only the gift is not measured in pesos and centavos; it is measured in time. You are given 86,400 seconds every day.  How you use them is up to you. You can squander the time and lose its benefit, or you can invest it wisely and be rewarded. 

Don't live a squandered life. Since you have only one life to give, live it well.

What separates a futile life from a fruitful one? Your attitude. Your attitude will be the difference between existing and living!

TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR TWO MOST VALUABLE DECISIONS

Let me pause here to ask you again to evaluate two most important decisions in your life.

Your most important life decision will be your choice of whether or not to follow Jesus Christ. Your choice to open your heart to Him will be the most eternal decision you will ever make. If you have not done that, don't hesitate for another moment! There is no greater choice than to choose Him to be Lord in your life, no matter how many possessions you own, how much money you have made or how much power you have accumulated.

Jesus reminds us, "How do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?" (Mark 8:36, NLT).

Now, as a Christian, let me reveal your second most important decision in this life: choosing the attitude with which you will follow Christ. The first decision will determine how eternal your life will be. The second will determine how effective your life will be.

Just because you are a Christian does not guarantee fruitfulness. I have often met Christians with poor attitudes that sour their relationships, families, ministry and potential for success. This need not be so!

Anyone can develop an attitude that attract success!

SEIZE THE DAY!

In the motion picture Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams plays the part of John Keating, an iconoclastic instructor hired to teach English literature at a buttoned-down, straightlaced, all-boys prep school. Determined to interest the boys in what they believe to be a boring subject, Keating employs a highly unorthodox teaching style. On the first day of class, with an impish smile, he walks out of the classroom and implores the boys to follow him. 

In the hallway, Keating gathers the boys around a glass trophy case containing dusty trophies, school memorabilia and some aging black-and-white photographs of students from long, long ago. There Keating asks one of the students to open his textbook and recite from the poem "To the Virgins to Make Much of Time." The boy hesitantly reads aloud:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today, Tomorrow will be dying.

"Gather ye rosebuds while ye may," Keating repeats. "The Latin term that sentiment is carpe diem. Now who knows what that means?"

The know-it-all boy of the group volunteers, "Seize the day."

"Seize the day," says Keating. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may. Why does the poet use these lines?"

Another boy takes a shot. "Because he was in a hurry?"

Imitating the sound of a game-show buzzer, the teacher corrects him. "No, but thank you for playing." He then turns to the boys and explains, "Because we are all food for worms, lads! Because, believe it or not, one day each and every one of us in this room is going to stop breathing, turn cold and die!"

TEACH US TO NUMBER OUR DAYS, THAT WE MAY PRESENT TO THEE A HEART OF WISDOM. (PSALMS 90:12)

Keating calls the boys' attention to the trophy case. "Now I would like you to step forward over here and peruse some of the faces from the past. You've walked past them many times, but I don't think you've really looked at them."

The boys stare blankly at the photos.

"They're not that different from you, are they?" the teacher suggests. "Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you. Their eyes are full of hope, just like you."

Keating pauses to let this sink in.

"Did they wait until it was too late make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils." Keating smiles. "But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in."

The boys crane their necks toward the trophy case.

"Hear it?" Then, as if interpreting for the souls of these past alumni, Keating whispers in a hoarse voice, intoned with a sense of deep urgency, "Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys! Make your lives extraordinary!"

Jesus said it this way:

You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. (Matt. 5:14, The Message).

Carpe diem! Seize the day and bring out the God-colors in your world. Within you lies the Holy Spirit, infused through your being by the breath of God. Don't keep it a secret. Begin to live your God-given call by shining your light through your life.

You don't have to be a world-famous evangelist to shine. And start by shining your light to those around you every day. And what is the beacon through which your light shine to those around you? Your extraordinary attitude!