When the late Senator Hubert Humphrey (D-MN) was told by his doctors that he had terminal cancer, he said it was the worst day of his life. He wrote an article in the Reader’s Digest, in which he made two profound statements that I have not forgotten. He said, “In life it isn’t what you’ve lost, it’s what you’ve got left that counts.” He also observed, “How long should a person live? I don’t know. What’s more important is how you live and what you live for.” Senator Humphrey was taking stock of his life.
However true this may have been for Senator Humphrey, it is all the more true for Christians today. Some of us have a lot, and others relatively little. Yet we all have been given the most precious, stupendous and awesome gifts from God. We have the gift of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice. We have God’s way of life. We have knowledge of God’s plan. And we have a purpose that gives our lives meaning that the world cannot even begin to understand.
As a Church, we practice the “way of give” on a large scale, through television, the Internet, booklets, magazines, DVDs and other educational materials, all given away free of cost or obligation. To the world, this may look like foolishness. But we understand that it is God’s way. Instead of focusing on present gain, we know that by preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God we are sowing seeds for the future—not just our future as individuals supporting the Work, but the future of the world, which is receiving our warning message and bringing to repentance a few whom God is calling.
Like the patriarchs of old, God’s people today are called to sacrifice the present for the future. We are future-oriented people, and our first priority is to seek God’s Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Why? We did not “choose to join” God’s Church. As Mr. Herbert Armstrong put it, “We have been drafted.” We did not volunteer, but it is our voluntary choice to accept God’s calling and be living sacrifices for others, just as Christ was for each of us.
It is a high calling, and awesome in what it demands of us. The great God of the entire universe, who created all that is, was or ever will be—the ever-living Almighty God—has a plan for each of us. He wants us to become full members of His Family. But what must we do in response to His calling? “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1). God is calling us to total obedience!
Jesus Christ set the example and the standard. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?” (Luke 9:23–25).
Count the Cost
When I counsel people for baptism, I remind them, “You are making a covenant with God, and that covenant has terms and conditions, laid out in the Bible. Before you become a Christian, God wants you to understand what it will cost you. You must be willing to obey God at all costs.” I ask them to consider these powerful instructions from Scripture: “Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple’” (Luke 14:25–26).
As we know, the word translated “hate” in this passage is a relative term; it means that we must love our physical family less than we love God. We must have our eyes on eternity—on our incredible future destiny. When there is a conflict, we must be willing to sacrifice present comfort—it may be family, friends or social acceptance—for the future. It is easy to rejoice when we learn the Truth, but counting the cost can be very difficult, because we come to understand that the Christian life requires us to sacrifice the present for the future.
I experienced this firsthand when I came into God’s Church. In 1963, my wife and I and our three children lived in Huntsville, Alabama, where I worked for the United States space program. I was also a well-known athlete in the region. We had been involved in a mainstream religion, and any non-mainstream religion was derided as a “cult.” So, you can imagine what we went through when we came into the Truth, leaving behind not just our mainstream church but also the practice of Sunday worship and false holidays such as Christmas and Easter. It was especially difficult for our children. We were persecuted by family members, schoolteachers, neighbors, friends, coworkers and others. But we were committed to our calling; we had counted the cost. We endured the trials. We sacrificed the present for the future.
Many of you reading this article have had similar experiences. To follow Christ, we must take up our cross daily (Luke 9:23). Whatever difficulties we face in the present, we must look to the future, loving God and putting Him first always.
What does Satan’s world offer in the long run? Nothing of value. On the surface it may seem enticing, but there is ultimately little more than heartache and misery. Yet people today are being conditioned to accept the prophesied “mark” of the Beast. If we are not careful, we can find ourselves softened, swayed and eventually conditioned by the prince of the power of the air (Ephesians 2:2) to go along with the crowd and accept sinful practices. Eventually, as we have even seen from the example of former brethren who were drawn away into apostasy, people can be tempted to go along with the world until they “can’t see anything wrong” with the sinful practices they once knew were against God’s way.
The Book of Life
What about you? Will your name be found written in the Book of Life? Or are you letting yourself become conditioned to accept the “mark” of the Beast? “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life” (Revelation 13:8). Unless your name is written in the Book of Life, you will be deceived into worship of the Beast power.
This is a serious matter. “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). This means eternal death. Or will you be an overcomer? “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life” (Revelation 3:5).
Notice that a name can be “blotted out” from the Book of Life. We cannot assume “once saved, always saved.” Overcoming is a life-long process. But it is not some insurmountable ordeal that we must face alone. Jesus Christ reminds us, “For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). When we wear the yoke of Christ, He will give us the wisdom and strength to persist in overcoming. We can take comfort in the words of Daniel, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1).
So, how can we be sure that our names will remain written in the Book of Life? “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5). Christ was a living sacrifice. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16).
With Christian love, we can serve one another. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:9–10).
We are being tested now to see whether or not we are obeying and inculcating into our minds the mind of Christ (1 Peter 4:17; 1 Corinthians 2:15–16). Christ had the Father’s mind. And what did He do? How did He act? How did He treat people? Christ showed compassion to the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor. Consider His response to the thief who was crucified beside Him (Luke 23:42–43). Even while suffering excruciating pain, Christ was compassionate to others.
Christ’s Example
Christ is not just our ideal; He must be our example. “But whosoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him [if we keep His word]. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:5–6).
For three-and-a-half years of His ministry, Christ showed what it meant to be a living sacrifice. He did not try to please Himself. He did not mope about and think, “Oh, woe is Me.” He was always thinking about the Father, and about the job He was given to do—the divine mission He was carrying out. He did not worry about having a comfortable present; He sacrificed His present for the future—for our future!
Again, “By this we know love, because He laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). We must have that same attitude that Christ had. So, are we really willing to lay our lives down by acts of kindness, good deeds—even just a pat on the back and a word of encouragement when needed? When we display that Christ-like attitude, we help those around us see the Church as the source of refuge and uplift that it should be. It should be a place of rest.
Christ said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, KJV). Each week, at Sabbath services, God’s people should be able to find rest and encouragement in the house of God among the brethren. We can express interest and genuine concern for others. “How was your week? How are you doing?”
Those of us who are shy need to break out of that. It can be hard to overcome old habits, but when you see people coming through the door of the Sabbath meeting hall, think: “That is my brother. That is my sister.” Christ in them is coming into the building, and that is where God is. He is with us. There is no need to fear an outgoing expression of concern for a brother or sister in Christ (1 John 4:18).
Endurance and Blessings
Yes, we must be willing to endure present discomfort at times to lay a foundation for the future. I remember receiving a letter from a member of God’s Church several years ago. It said, “Dear Mr. League, I would like to say it is a delight to serve God, for His promises of blessings are as sure as the rising and setting of the sun. Just over a year ago, I was discouraged, no job, one eight-year-old suit of clothes, a one-room basement apartment, shared with my nephew and no automobile, a diet consisting mostly of soup and crackers, no one to turn to except to God. As a result of my prayers, as well as those of the brethren, God turned things around in one year’s time. I had a job, several suits, a nice apartment, a small car and good food.”
I think also of a Church member in Cincinnati, Ohio, who was asked to provide transportation for another family that lived 50 miles from services. Sadly, he could not fulfill the request, because he had a wife and two children and his car was far too small to hold eight people. But he really wanted to serve in this way, so he prayed to God for a larger car. One day, after Spokesman Club, he came to me and said, “Mr. League, come outside. I want to show you something.” He then proceeded to show me a large station wagon, and said, “This was a gift; it didn’t cost me anything. God gave me this so I could bring those people to Church!” I said, “Don’t forget that God gave you this car—use it for His service.” God’s blessings may not always be as physical and as dramatic as this man experienced—but they will come to His obedient people without fail.
There are many ways we can serve—just a cup of cold water given to a Church member will not go unrewarded, a kind word, a sincere compliment, encouragement, an offer for transportation, taking someone to lunch for some interesting fellowship, cleaning someone’s house when they are sick—the list could go on. But it is of the utmost importance that we each become a living sacrifice—Christ in us, the hope of glory!
So, remember—if we sacrifice the present for the future, we can look forward to being born into the God family to live and rule forever, under Christ, as the very Sons of the supreme God of the universe. What a glorious future lies ahead!