Steven A. Bush - October 27, 2013
What's On Your Bucket List?
A bucket list is typically a list of things someone wants to do or accomplish before they die. One thing is for certain in this life, we are all going to die someday. What is less certain is how we will spend eternity. The Apostle Paul was a believer whose faith was characterized by authenticity--his repentance was extreme, his obedience was radical, and his fervent love for Christ and for others ultimately cost him his life. While it's doubtful Paul ever penned anything remotely close to what we now might refer to as a bucket list, an urgent desire to make more tents probably wouldn't have been on it. Philippians 1:21-25 may be as close as we get to a bucket list for Paul: "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith..." Actually that would look pretty good on the bucket list of any believer and so perhaps we should add it to each of ours. May those things that matter most to God, with regards to our lives now, increasingly be what matters the most to each of us!