Written Oct 11th, 2021
In the end, what will matter to you? What will you have left in the world? What will you have done for those you love? What will have you done for God?
Questions piled upon questions that seem to drain our mind. Turning away from them we try not to focus on what is to come, our inevitable passing from this world to the next. What will matter in the end is different for all of us, yet similar in principle. What do you wish to have accomplished? You likely want a safe house, a nice car, oh and a yearly vacation. While these are nice, worldly comforts, what will it matter in the end if you had those things or not? It wont matter, you will be no different then those who had more, no different then those who had less. Those who have tasted the pleasures of the spirit, the goodness of heaven, can not return to the mediocre goods of the world. The plastic that sits in your house, gone in a fire. The wood will rot, the brick will fall apart. We spend our time working to get a bigger house, to adorn it with nice things, all to make people think that we are wealthy. Materialism is an epidemic, with unimaginable effects. So, in the end, will that stamp you collected be something you can take with you? What about your gold watch? We hear frequently, you can’t take anything with you. Yet in the same moment we go on to accumulate more worthless goods, at the expense of our soul.
What will you have left in the world? Will you have left art, music, poetry, a company? How will it impact others, even after you are gone? One can see how the questions can continue infinitely in many directions, only leading us to realize our inner despair, that some are unaware of.
We are told to leave a legacy in this world, isn’t that admirable? Sure, something to leave the next generation of your family is important, and while valuable to those on earth, how will that affect your soul? Leaving a gold watch to your nephew will not let you into the great white gates. An even greater question, what will you have done for those you love? What will you have told them? How much time will you have spent with them? An even larger question being, who do you want to be there at your final moment? Who means the most to you, who genuinely cares about you? Answering these questions, we find ourselves looking onward to the future, onward to our hope in eternity.
The most important question to ask is, what will you have done for God? Is God someone you care about? Is God someone you took time to serve? That is what will matter in the end. What you have done for God is what will remain forever. Every deed will be accounted for, all the good you have done for him. What we do for man is forgotten, what is done for God is eternal. That which we receive in return for our service to our King is what will matter. That is what we should be focused on.
Collin Cooper 