Pressing On Into My Future

I am 76 years old, so I have much less life ahead of me than I do behind me. The question I am asking myself is, how does God want to use my life to the fullest extent in the time I have left?  Philippians 3:13-14 says to “… strain forward to what lies ahead, press forward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

I, along with every other Christian, should never become complacent in our work for the Lord nor in our spiritual walk, never allowing ourselves to level off. I must be proactive in my spiritual growth, doing whatever is necessary for maturity to take place (Ephesians 4:1-3), and allowing God to cut out of my life what is not needed or not producing fruit (John 15:1-2). I must also focus on the things that will lead to more spiritual growth as said in 1 Timothy 4:12-15).

God knows me better than I know myself, and He knows how He can best use my life to build His Kingdom, but I must be willing to surrender my personal plans or goals and be open to all options for Him to use my life.

My life passions have been music and writing. I have been praying how God might want to expand my writing ministry, or how He might still want to use me in church music ministry. Perhaps He will add something to what I’m already doing. Maybe He will give me a God-sized dream for many more years to come. The point is we should never retire from the work of ministry. We are never too old to see God’s plan unfold.

I will continue to write and sing until I am no longer able to do so (I know without a doubt that I was born to write, and God gave me a natural ability for music), doing what God put me on this earth to do.

My legacy will be all the millions of people who have read my articles and will continue to do so after I have passed away. Hopefully, some of these will come to know the Lord as a result. May the words of 2 Timothy 4:7-8 be said of me: “I have fought the good fight,  I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteous, which the Lord, the  righteous judge, will reward to me on that day, and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing.” I am accountable to God for how I’ve lived my life and want to hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant… Enter into the joy of the Lord”(Matthew 25:21).

I will close this article of pressing into my future with my life verse, Ephesians 3:20: “Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that I ask or think, according to the power that works within me,”and with my personal mission statement expressed in Psalm 71:17-18 and 77:6-8. “Oh God from my youth, you have taught me and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, Do not forsake me until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come…That the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments, that they should not be like their fathers , a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

(I wrote this article primarily to myself, but I trust that you, too, have been inspired by it).