The Test of Time

James Dobson, in an old video called “A Father Looks Back”, tells of one time when he was playing Monopoly with his family. As the game progressed, he became more and more wealthy and successful in the pursuit of the game. He talks of having hundred-dollar bills tucked away here and there…of his opponents landing on his properties with hotels and houses on them, and generally being quite the bragging winner.
Then the game was over. He had won handily, and by this time the rest of his family wasn’t too interested in helping him put the game away, so he began to do it himself. As he began to dismantle the game and put the pieces back into the box, he was struck by the similarity to real life.
We work hard. We accumulate much. We win at the game of life in terms of what most people would call win. Then one day it’s over. We die. And it all has to go back into the box. We take nothing with us. We use none of our accumulation of things to pay our way anywhere. Our money, houses, automobiles, jewelry, and all the rest are useless to us. Someone packs it up and puts it all back into the box.
Dr. Dobson ends this segment of the video with these words, “The conclusion that I’ve drawn that outranks all others is, ‘Nothing in life matters except love for God and His Son Jesus Christ, and love for mankind, beginning with my own family.’”
I don’t know about you, but in my view, the lesson here is crucial and the message here is timeless. And it applies not only to fathers, but to all who live in this creation. Yes, it is important for us to care for ourselves and our families as God blesses us. Yes, it is important to be good stewards of what God gives us. And yes, it is important to work and be productive.
But when all is said and done; when I enter into eternity on the other side of death, what will matter is not whether I have accumulated a certain amount of material possessions or whether I have a great retirement plan. What will matter is my relationship with the One who made me and has my eternal destiny in His hands. “Well done, good and faithful servant,” is the one thing I want to hear. Nothing else really matters and nothing else can stand the test of time or of eternity.