Your Life In One Word

If someone was to ask what you did with your life, what would be the one word reply?

1 Kings 16:1-34

Reference: “Zimri, one of his officials, who had command of half his chariots, plotted against him. Elah was in Tirzah at the time, getting drunk in the home of Arza, the palace administrator at Tirzah.” ‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭16:9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Explore: We are the primary carers of a toddler. He sees his mother every day, but as a young mum she struggles to know how to care for him.

He attends a great local child care and the other day they told us about a conversation they had with him. He mentioned his mum doing something and they asked, “Where is your mum?” “Bed,” was his short reply.

“What does your mum do?” they asked. “Gym,” he said matter of factly.

From the mouths of babes they were able to see where her priorities lay.

Application: If someone was to ask what you did with your life, what would be the one word reply? Sometimes I feel it would be “cooking” or “cleaning” but my hope is that people would see me as “loving” or “caring”.

Reading through 1 Kings we get a snap shot of many of the kings in the Old Testament. There are only a few verses allocated to Elah who reigned for two years as the king of Israel. It says someone was plotting to kill him and as he was off getting drunk they succeeded by striking him down and killing him.

Now, Elah may not have been able to determine his enemies actions, but he was certainly in control of his own. And what has he been noted down in history doing? Getting drunk then getting killed.

Not the most glamorous of stories.

Life does bring all sorts of challenges our way but so much of how we live is in our hands. You get to determine how you go down in history.

Prayer: Lord, may I make history in Your name. When people remember me may they immediately recall You. Amen.

How would someone describe your actions today?

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This article was written by Linda Bailey
