While We Can

The famous film Schindler’s List tells the true story of Oskar Schindler, a businessman during World War II who hired Jewish people to work for him. After seeing the Nazis shoot Jewish people in cold blood in a Kraków ghetto, he decided to spend his life trying to save Jews. And he was quite successful.

At the end of the film, Schindler’s factory is shut down, and he prepares to flee the country. Having saved more than one thousand Jews, he says to Itzhak Stern, the Jewish man who was assisting him, “If I just—I could have got more.”

Stern says, “Oskar, there are 1,110 people alive because of you. Look at them.”

“If I’d made more money,” Schindler says. “I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I just—”

“There will be generations,” Stern says, “because of what you did.”

“I didn’t do enough.”

“You did so much,” Stern replies.

Think about how some people, even Christians, will feel when they look back at their lives. They will say, “What a waste! I could have done so much more! I could have made a greater difference! Why didn’t I do that?”

Nothing is ever wasted if it is done with the right heart for the glory of God. For instance, someone might give up a promising career to go to the mission field. Some will say, “What a waste.”

Or, you may give up certain pleasures and activities because you don’t want to dull your spiritual life. And some will say, “What a waste. You missed out.”

Maybe you recognize that the work of the kingdom is worth investing in financially, so you give faithfully and regularly. And people say, “What a waste. You should have kept it for yourself.”

But at the end of our lives, we want to hear God say, “Well done.”

One day, as Christians, we will stand at a judgment seat. This won’t be a judgment of whether we will go to Heaven. Rather, this judgment will take place in Heaven. The Bible describes it this way: “But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value” (1 Corinthians 3:13 NLT).

As Alan Redpath once put it, you can have a saved soul and a lost life.

God will look at our motives, at our whys. And if we have been faithful and served the Lord with what He has set before us, we will be rewarded. It is not enough just to get to Heaven. We want to go to Heaven having done something with our lives for God’s glory.

That is what Mary did when she anointed Jesus with the flask of costly fragrant oil. Jesus said, “She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time” (Mark 14:8 NLT).

God has given us all influence, opportunities, resources, and time. Let’s do what we can while we can. Because on that final day, we will wish we’d done more.

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