A Prayer for a Full Life
By Greg Laurie

“I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.” – Psalm 146:2

Jesus Christ was, according to the Bible, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He knows and understands the pain and hurt deep inside your soul when you have lost someone you love.

John 11:35 tells us, “Jesus wept.” Tears rolled down His cheeks, tears of sympathy for Mary and Martha for all the sorrow that is caused by sin and death. And in that sense, Jesus has wept with us as well.

Death never was God’s plan in the beginning. But now, because of the entrance of sin into the human race, all of us will die one day. Some will live longer than others, but we all will die. And we think the greatest tragedy is when someone dies young. While this is an extreme tragedy, I don’t think it is the ultimate tragedy. I think the ultimate tragedy is when a life has been lived to its entire length and has been entirely wasted and squandered on sin.

I think of the words of Jim Elliot, who was a modern-day martyr of the faith, put to death as he tried to bring the gospel to a tribe in Ecuador known at the time as the Aucas. Jim was lanced through with a spear, and wrapped around that spear was one of the gospel tracts he and missionary pilot Nate Saint had dropped over their village from the air. In his journal Jim Elliot had written, “I seek not a long life but a full one like Yours, Lord Jesus.”

We think that length of life is the ultimate goal. And yes, it’s good to live long.  But what is more important is to live right, to do what is right before God. What is more important is to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Dear Lord, thank you for your many blessings. Thank you for the lives we have been graciously given, and help us to use our limited time for good. Help us to pursue our lives to their fullest. Remind us that living for you is the only path to true fulfillment.