What will Matter in 100 Years?

The to-do list keeps getting longer.  The more items you check off, the more that get added.

The to-do list has an ability to reproduce on its own, I am sure of it.

Or maybe your work has down-sized and expect less people to do the work, so now you are doing the work of 6 people instead of only 2.

Whatever the case, we tend to load ourselves down with more cares than God ever intended us to carry.

We think

• Our house has to be clean and ready for a photo shoot
• Our kids, perfectly behaved
• Our resume without gaps
• Our bank accounts, full

We know it is silly to expect such a reality.  In fact, we know it isn’t humanly possible.  And yet we spend much of our time and energy chasing after this unrealistic reality that isn’t real.

What if we stepped back and asked ourselves one question,

“What will matter in 100 years?”

 

You see, in 100 years, you’ll be dead.  The odds are stacked against you on that one.

So ask yourself, what will really matter in 100 years?

The answer?-Nothing that is on your wish list, to-do list, or bucket list.

Your job title will not matter, it probably won’t even exist in 100 years.

Your house will be a pile of rubble.

Your bank account will be empty, or in the hands of your descendants who will empty it for you.

The only thing that will matter in 100 years is how you affected and impacted the lives of people around you.

The ripple effect of the lives you touch today go far beyond the 100 year mark.

Your family and friends will matter in 100 years.  We often contemplate the legacy we leave to our families.  We seek to bring our kids up knowing and learning about God; we talk to our family members about our faith and how God longs to have a relationship with them.

Do you know who else will matter in 100 years?

Your co-workers, your boss, the customers you help, the vendors you buy from.

Those are people too.  Those people you work with and for everyday: how you impact their lives today, that will matter in 100 years.

Too often we rule out the people we spend 40 hours (or more) a week with in favor of our families and friends.

[Tweet “In God’s eyes, the people you work with and for are just as important as your family.”]

That’s a hard thing to accept, isn’t it?

To God, that person next to your cubicle has a heart that needs His forgiveness.

To God, that boss of yours has a soul that God longs to redeem.

To God, that difficult customer is made in His image.

I know what you are saying right now: “You have no idea what it’s like to work with/for that person.  You have no idea how badly they have treated me.”

It doesn’t matter how they treated you, it matters how you treat them in return.

How we forgive, how we love, how we care for the people we work with and for will matter in 100 years.  God will make sure of it.

How can we have an impact on the people we work with that will last beyond 100 years?  Here are 3 ways to make your work matter:

1. See your work as a Calling

Until you see your work as more than work; until you view your work as a calling and your workplace as a mission field, you will never impact those you work with and for.  If you want your work to matter beyond 100 years, then see your work as God sees it.  View your work as something that matters.

2. Build your own relationship with God

[Tweet “You can’t give to others what you don’t possess.”]

Nurture your own relationship with God.  Spend time with Him daily.  Study and grow as a disciple and you will be overflowing with joy and peace and wisdom to impart to those around you at work.  At some time in your faith journey, you need to grow up and do the work.

Get up 15 or 30 minutes early and start spending some time building your relationship with God.

No one has a good and growing relationship with a spouse or friend where they never spend time getting to know that person, having conversations and do things for them.  The same is true with your relationship with God.  It takes time and effort on your part to grow as a child of God that can fulfill the calling of sharing God with others.

 3. Choose love over Judgement

Paul said that it was the love of Christ that compelled him.  No one ever came into a relationship with Jesus because some Christian judged them.  Realize that the only difference between you and that person you work with or for-is Jesus.  That is the only difference.  It isn’t that you are better than they are, or more holy, or perfect.  It’s just that you have Jesus in your life and they don’t…yet.

Only God knows their hearts.

Show love, share love, give grace.  Watch the change in that other person as you do.  It’s amazing and nothing short of a miracle.  But God is in the business of miracles after all.

 

Are you feeling challenged?

Did I hit a nerve?

Good.  That was my desire.

We need you in your workplace, God needs you.

Let’s step up and grasp the vision for what will matter in 100 years and start having an impact at work.

What do you think?

What would you add to my list of ways to make your work matter after 100 years?

What steps are you going to take today to leave a legacy at your work?