What is Your Life Worth?

Merry Christmas! There’s a line in my favorite Christmas movie, It’s a Wonderful Life, where our beleaguered hero is navigating the latest crisis, a run on the banks driven by panic. It’s a beautiful scene where it contrasts two different world views, one built on community and the other built on money as an abstract resource.

In the scene, people are scared by the dire financial straits at the time, probably meant to mimic the years of the Great Depression. The way the Building and Loan operated is fascinating and a vastly different system than our modern mortgages. This article, which explains it, is worth a read if you want to know more. I won’t explain it here, as it isn’t the main point of the scene.

Instead, we have George Bailey arguing that people shouldn’t give in to the perfectly legal grab of resources the villain of the story was engaging in. “Potter isn’t selling. Potter’s buying!” George exclaims. He knows that the richest man in town is on the path to owning everything. A path not only to riches, but to power and control over everyone in town’s life.

While this type of specific financial scenario might not be something that is easy for us to understand, the battle remains and is just as common today. When you wake up and pick up your phone or turn on your computer, someone is offering a price for your life. They want a piece of you. They want to control you. The companies advertising their products and services are selling you something. They’re buying your time. They’re buying your life.

Each of us has limited life resources. Time is the most essential. We choose to trade our time for many different things. Money, relationships, entertainment. Every day we wake up and choose what we’ll spend our time on. If you’re like me, this will include moments wasted, sometimes in excess.

I remember years ago talking with a friend who was in his seventies. Over the course of his life, this man had sold his time for many important things. Because of his commitment, the New Testament was translated into two of the most difficult languages in the world. He gave thirty years of his life to that task and those people. Then, in a moment, his access to those people was taken away by a government ban.

I met him because he was looking for remnants of those people in other countries, desperate to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with any who he could find. His life amazed me and here he was, at the age when many are well into retirement, still going strong for the sake of the Gospel.

One day, as we were talking about the choices he’d made, including some difficult choices along the way, he made a comment that stuck with me.

“A man has only one life to give in service to the Lord. He shouldn’t give it away too lightly.”

That’s what life is. We choose each day how we will spend our time. Each day we sell our life for things like our career, our family or achieving the next level on a game on our smartphone. We can feel “accomplishment” because we’re rewarded with something that flashes on a screen.

All of these things that are bidding for our time are challenging us to sell bits of our life off for what they offer. The question for us today is what will you sell your life for?

This is the message of the movie, It’s a Wonderful Life. George Bailey’s life didn’t go as planned. He had big dreams, centered around personal accomplishments. He wanted to travel the world, build things, get rich. These were the desires of this likable young man.

What happened? Life got in the way. He fell in love, got married, raised a family. He stayed home, cared for his mother, helped his uncle and dozens of other people in the town, if not hundreds. He gave his life away for the good of others. He sold his time to build something, but something small and personal. Something that ultimately saved him in the end.

There are few things we touch in our daily lives that touch eternity. Few things that last forever.

I Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

For followers of Christ, this is our destiny. We will spend eternity knowing and glorifying God. Time spent preparing for that future by getting to know Him more through His word is always well spent.

Mark 10:45 says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many.”

Jesus Himself, gave His life away. His sacrificial death is the only reason any of us have eternal hope.

So, what will you sell your life for today? Diversions? Trinkets? Or will you sell it for eternity? Investing in your children and in those who God brings into your lives.

This is the way that George Bailey became the “richest man in town” and it is the path to a life sold for the greatest price of all.

Originally published at http://seeinggodclearly.com on December 16, 2023.