One Minute After You DieChikamu

Good Aim

Aim at heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in.’ Aim at earth and you get neither. - C. S. Lewis

What you believe about what happens one minute after you die could change everything forever.

Imagine for a moment that you believe when you die your soul will transform into water. How would this change the way you use water? Would you still let it run while you brush your teeth? This belief might change your interaction with water forever. To prepare, you might move somewhere different to spend more time near an ocean, rivers, or lakes. Most likely, you’d want to change the way others saw and used water, too. Maybe you’d be so immersed in water you’d never step foot on land to experience and enjoy the people and life around you.

Think about C.S. Lewis’ quote above for a bit. If every bit of your life—all of your actions, expenses, time, and energies—were assigned some kind of aim, where would all the bits be pointing? Would they be aimed in all different places? If all of this momentum were added together somehow, what would your life be pointed at?

Would your life be so aimed at doing good and helping others that there was almost no time and energy for knowing God? Would it be so aimed at church and checking off spiritual practices that you failed to love the people around you? Johnny Cash called that being “so heavenly minded you’re no earthly good.” Or, would your compass be pointed only at earthly comforts like good schooling, clothing, food, transportation, a nice and safe neighborhood, and a meaningful career?

Notice none of the above are wrong by themselves, which is why it’s so easy to get off aim.

Today, we’ll read a conversation between Jesus and an important religious leader named Nicodemus who was trying to understand where and how to re-aim his life.

Pray: God, would You begin to show me any parts of my life that are aimed in the wrong direction?

Listen to messages and get resources about this.