Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Ecclesiastes 3 begins, To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die… What grabs my attention is what is not mentioned here. I am not saying that the Bible is not accurate, that something is missing, or that something should be added to it. I realize that the Bible is giving comparisons which all have their purposes. My thought lies in the “in-between.” What happens between a time to be born and a time to die? That would be living, or a time to live.
Picture a gravestone with a person’s name in big, bold letters. Maybe it says something significant about that person and includes his date of birth and of death. What is often overlooked—the most important part—is found between the dates. It is the dash.
Why is the dash so important? The dash represents the life that person lived. Though seemingly insignificant on that gravestone, that small punctuation holds years—some many and some few. What happened in that dash—those years—makes all the difference. In that dash, did the person get saved? Did he live his life for the Lord? Did he give every part of his heart and live for Christ fully? Did he instead live with regret for not doing as much as he could have for the Lord? Was he a light for God?
Starting the journey and finishing well are what most people seem to focus on, and while those matter too, let us consider how we are living in the dash. Yes, we all should want to finish well. However, to finish well, we must purpose in our hearts to live righteously and completely for the Lord.
When it came time for the Apostle Paul to die, he said, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith… He knew the life he lived—from the time of his salvation on the road to Damascus until his execution at the hands of the Romans—was lived fully for Christ. In this sense, it was his “new birth” to death. He lived in his dash as sold out completely to the Lord.
What are we doing in the dash? Are we giving our best to God or giving Him the leftovers? Are we reaching others? Are we committed to shining the Light of the world for the lost to see Christ? What we are doing in the dash—right now, right where we are—matters for eternity.
Take this challenge to make your “dash” count!
by Taylor Hill
