A Life of Significance

Two and a half decades ago, the greatest sermon illustration of a generation impressed upon me the weighty responsibility of not wasting my life. These life-altering seven and a half minutes have been used by God to challenge me toward hard and uncomfortable choices over and over again. I thank God for their impact.

An unfortunate (and unintended) side effect of Piper’s illustration in my heart, however, has been a discontentedness with things that feel everyday or mundane.
 
Sending another email. Cooking another meal. Attending another meeting. These are no doubt important because they are necessary, but they don’t always feel meaningful.

Recently, though, the Lord has given me an additional way to look at these things: Jesus says, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12 ESV). Paul says, “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Galatians 5:14 ESV) and “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2 ESV) and “...count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4 ESV).

So…if you want to feel loved today, try showing love to someone else.
If you want to experience joy today, seek to increase someone else’s joy.
If you want to feel a part of something, make someone else feel a part.
If your heart’s burden is heavy, go serve somebody.
And, if you want to feel like your life is significant, try helping someone else see how their life matters.

These aren’t just cute “-isms” that belong on a cat poster.
In doing these, we fulfill the law of Christ.