You Only Live Once

Truly life is a precious gift of God; He gave us the life we have, and He can take it back again whenever it pleases Him.  It is His free gift to us, not something we got or did for ourselves. 

But as long as He sustains our life, He expects us to live for Him.  Indeed, because He gave it to us as a free gift, He wants us to give it back to Him again, if for no other reason than for safe-keeping in this wicked world.  He desires that our life is lived for His honour and glory, because it is the only one we have or ever will have.  "You only live once."

That makes the entire matter of living a vitally important one.  If we have only one life to live, then we had better make a most serious effort at making it a life that brings pleasure to the living God.  You can fail exams at school or college, but you can re-sit them another time.  You can mess up in business, but again you can start all over again.  

But if you mess up your life, and by that I mean that if you live your life without God and die without Christ as your Lord and Saviour, you don't get a second chance to make amends.  "You only live once!"  When you close your eyes for the last time, it is what your relationship with Christ is that matters above all else.

Why is this so?  Because this appointment with death is also an appointment with judgement and the Judge.  It is the day your eternal destiny is eternally sealed - for weel or for woe.  

That's what makes live so precious.  It is an awesome responsibility to be given the gift of life.  Living is serious business; and so is dying.  What God has given to us He will require of us at the end.  Our lives and how we lived them will have to be accounted for. 

Therefore only a life that is hidden with Christ in God is safe for eternity.  Is yours?

We have only one life that'll soon be past
And it's only what's done for Jesus that'll last.