Yesterday evening towards the end of my workday my phone rang with my mom on the other end. “Brandon, your cousin’s son was just killed in an ATV accident (he is 2 years old). I don’t know the details but please pray for them….”
I was floored. This is my cousin I grew up with and have always been close to even though he lives in another state now. My mind couldn’t even process it as tears came to my eyes (I’m not really a crier). Having a 2 year old son myself, my mind immediately went to “how does one move forward in life from that?” Even as a believer it would be difficult to process much less for someone without the hope that your child would be with the Lord.
When I got home my kids were already in bed so I went in and kissed them both in their sleep and thanked God for then and asked that He would continue to provide safety for them. Often times before bed I’ll zone out to a show on Netflix or something of that nature. As I started to do that it felt quite meaningless and I pondered how much of my life is spent on things that will not matter for eternity in the least. This isn’t to say there is never a time to enjoy something like a TV show or to say one can’t enjoy such things for the glory of God but it hit me how much time I actually spend on things that are quite frivolous.
As I have still been processing this terrible accident with my cousin’s son, I have been praying that God would give me an intense and constant passion and discipline to spend the vast majority of my life doing things that do have eternal value. That I would invest my time in knowing God through His Word and in prayer. That I would spend fervent time in worshiping God as He is worthy and in prayer confessing sin and praying for sanctification. That I would spend fervent time in supplication to the Lord for my family, for my church, for my friends, for God’s will to be done in my life, in my family, in my church, in my city, in my country and on earth as it is in heaven.
Oh God that we would not neglect private time of worship, praising You for who You are. Give us a discipline and passion for prayer. Give us a discipline and passion for Your Word that we would live it and breath it and that it would become interwoven into our very beings. God let us take every thought captive that our every moment would be glorifying to You. Let us pray without ceasing! God let us not neglect our family worship time and the teaching of our children to know and follow You. Let us lead them in time in Your Word and in a life full of prayer. Let us teach them to sing Your praises with thanksgiving and joy. Let us never miss a moment to hug our children and tell them we love them, and tell them of Your wondrous love and how You have graciously saved Your people! Let us seize every moment to love our spouses as You love your bride the church. Lord, let us not neglect gathering with the body of Christ in worship on Your day but let us instead joyfully embrace it as something precious as you have given access to Your very presence together as a body. Let us joyfully embrace sitting at Your table that You have invited us to where you give us grace that we so desperately need! Father let us proclaim the good news that You save sinners to the world. Let us tell all who will listen that Your Son has died so that our sins may be forgiven and so that we can be made sons and daughters of the King of the universe.
Oh that our lives would be spent on the the things that are eternal! That even in the mundane things of life that we would be doing them for the glory of God. That we would not have wasted minutes and hours and days. And praise God for His forgiveness for when we do waste the time. Praise Him that forgiveness is immediate and full. Praise Him that He gives meaning and purpose to what otherwise would be a life full of despair and gloom. Amen and amen.
The Reformed Layman 