The Time of Your Life

About 2 weeks ago I taught a lesson in Acteens that really made me think. I have been meaning to share it with you all since then, but am just now getting around to it! I think it is a lesson that we all need to hear often! (and just in case you don't know what Acteens is...it is a missions group for girls in grades 6-12. it kind of gets them ready for Baptist Women and gets them involved in missions! I loved Acteens as a teenager and I am loving teaching it with Jessica at this time in my life!)

The Time of Your Life

First, we just went over some facts that were pretty interesting!

1. In 1900 the average human life span was 50 years. Today it is almost 80 years!

2. The average lifespan of a male in the 400s in England was 30 years.

3. The average eyelash lives 150 days.

4. In a 72 year lifetime, the human heart will beat 2.5 billionish times!

5. Between the ages of 30 and 70, your nose and ears can grow by as much as half an inch!

Then we asked the question...Other than growing bigger ears and losing eyelashes, what are we supposed to do with the approximately 75 years that we live? What are we supposed to do with the 2.5 billion beats of our heart?

The we also asked what some of our goals are for our life. I hope to make an actual list of some of my goals for this year in the near future. Sometimes I think it helps us to be more accountable if we write them down and have to look at them and remind ourselves of them.

We read James 4: 13-17

13Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

Wow! So this straight out tells us that if we know we should do good, and we don't do it, then we are sinning.

We also read Matthew 25:41-46

41"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.'
44"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
45"He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
46"Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Those verses pretty much speak for themselves. If we see someone in need and do not help them, it is like we are walking right by God Himself and ignoring Him.

We are here to do good! And keep in mind what James says, our lifes are short. To do good in a short time is a high calling. We must ask ourselves constantly

How much good am I doing for others?

What am I spending my time doing?

Then we were all supposed to think of something good that we could do for someone else before we left the church that night. And I reminded them that sometimes the little things mean the most!

Then we closed in this way...Everyone feel your heartbeat.

Our lives are short. 2.5 billion heartbeats seems like a lot, but even right now we're feeling beat after beat go on. And the Bible is true...each beat could be our last. I'm not saying that ot scare you, I'm saying it to motivate you, to use every second of your life for good. Not to do so is a sin. To do so can be a great blessing to others!

Really made me think about my life and what I am really doing here. I am here to do good for others. To show them God's unconditional love for them. What a great task we Christians have set before us!