There is a famous saying that goes like this:

“Only one life ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Only one life…I remember back to the days of my childhood when a birthday would come, and I couldn’t wait to grow up fast enough! When I was 13, I wanted to be 16. When I was 16, I wanted to be 18. Someone once warned me about wishing my life away. I quickly learned to enjoy each moment, even through the difficult times, to cherish the days we have with those we love.

There was a song I used to listen to that captured this same idea. I think it was by Bill & Gloria Gaither. It went something like this:

“We have this moment, to hold in our hands,
And to touch, as it slips through our fingers like sand.
Yesterday’s gone, and tomorrow may never come.
We have this moment today.”

Some of us have many moments, years and years of moments. Others have very few.

We attended a graduation party today where we found out a family had lost their oldest son to some kind of heart problem. The man was 30 years old.

Another friend lost a cousin to a car accident last week – a young man probably in his twenties.

And yesterday, we found out my father-in-law is dying. He is almost 96.

Two men had their lives cut short – too young to die. One has lived a long, full life.

And yet, they each had one life. One life to live as they saw fit. One life to choose what to do with the time that had been given to them. One life to make life-changing decisions about the next life.

I was watching a show the other night called Inside the Actors’ Studio. At the end of the interview, the interviewer asked this question: “If there is a heaven, what do you want to hear God say to you when you get to the pearly gates?”

Interesting question for people who aren’t even sure they believe God or heaven exists. And if both God and heaven (and hell) do exist, it seems to me we would want to know what they’re really like. A better question to ask the God who owns the heavens is, “What must I do to be allowed into heaven when I die?”

After all, why should God let us in at all? If heaven exists, God made it. And if He made it, He gets to decide who He allows in. And the best part is, He wrote a book telling us the answer to that question. All we have to do is read it and ask Him to show us. The way is free, yet costly — impossible, but simple. Understanding it all takes a truly seeking heart.

Of course, the answers that were given on Inside the Actors’ Studio did not reflect any such thing. One answer was more along the lines of, “If God exists, he’s got a lot of explaining to do.”

And that answer shows a lot of arrogance aimed at someone and something they don’t know and haven’t taken time to understand. But they could…in this one life God has given to them…if they took their decision about the next life seriously.

Only one life ’twill soon be past…
Only what’s done for Christ will last.

And it will last…forever and ever and ever.