(click here if you can’t see the Youtube clip above)

Practice?

Why are we talking about practice?

After all – isn’t life just one big practice round? Aren’t we just biding our time until the next life comes around?

If the next life after this is so important, then why do we spend so much time talking about and worrying about this life?

There must be a point to this practice round. There must be a reason why God placed us in this world. There must be a reason why He hasn’t rescued us from it yet.

Maybe this practice round really counts.

How can this be? Every Augusta native knows when the Masters rolls around, the practice rounds don’t count. Golfers goof off, skipping balls across the water, letting their children putt for them. They save their energy for the real tournament. Practice rounds don’t count.

No one even likes to practice. We’re always trying to get out of it. But you can’t get anywhere without it.

Oh sure. You can coast for a little while with an incredible skill set. Whether in acting or athletics, you can get by for a little while on charm and talent.

But practice counts. The amount you perfect your skill in practice is reflected in the game.

What you do in this life, this practice round, echoes in eternity.

In Luke 16, Jesus recounts a story of two men – a rich man and a poor man. The rich man is not obviously a bad man – we don’t learn much about him at all besides his wealth – but he does pass by the poor man at his gate without offering any assistance.

All of a sudden, both the rich man and poor man are dead. The poor man is in heaven. The rich man is in hell.

The rich man sees the error of his ways and pleads to be rescued. He is denied.

The rich man asks to be able to warn his family to take their lives more seriously. He is denied.

The rich man has learned too late – this life is more than just practice.

Your eternal life doesn’t begin when you die. It began when you were born.

There is no gap; this life is either as close to heaven or as close to hell as you will ever be.

Easter unlocks the eternal nature of our lives. Jesus’s actions during holy week forever connected our lives to His sacrifice.

The stone was rolled away from the tomb not to show its emptiness but to reveal the pathway for all humanity to live forever.

You will live forever, one way or another. So will the actions and choices you make in this life.

Don’t save all your energy for the “real thing” – for the next life. The real thing has already begun. Take action today!

What do you believe about eternal life? What kind of action could you take today that will have eternal consequences?