Terminal Thinking

By Marjorie Kinnee
Editorial

Text: Psalm 39:4-8

One cannot sit under the teaching of Charles R. Grisham for 25 plus years without absorbing many impactful truths. One was his Three Touch Points for every day... (paraphrased)

1. Touch God,
2. Touch others,
3. Touch something that will outlive you.

This philosophy led him into a writing ministry which affected the lives and ministries of multiplied thousands. And, like the ripples on a pond, his impartations continue on and on as his endeavors are being replicated in those to whom he ministered. They, in turn, pass what they've learned into the hearts and lives of those under their sphere of influence. Now that is a legacy!

True terminal thinking is not a box canyon. Psalm 39:4-5 reveals it's proper scope.

• Make me to know my end
• And the measure of my days,
• That I may know how frail I am.
• Every man at his best state is but a vapor.

Understanding the following will underline the importance of the above...

• Our earthly work is vain.
• In reality, we heap up wealth we cannot keep;
• We have no idea who is getting it.

Here's a couple of examples. 1.) You hold stock in a mutual fund, but the mutual fund managers invest your dollars into ventures they think will be profitable. These ventures may or may not fit with your priorities and principles, but you trust the fund manager/s to do right by your investment. Hedge funds and various cloaking manuevers make it possible and even probable that you have no idea who is actually getting your money. 2.) In an inheritance devoted to family members, you have no guarantee that they will actually use it for the purpose/s you intend. While they would be foolish to squander your money; once you're dead, there is no real way to find out whether your inheritors have kept to your wishes. An heir who is determined to bypass your guidelines has only to wait long enough for those who are managing your estate to go on to other things. Then they can do as they will without further impediments.

When it comes to spiritual things, it is all the more critical to understand that your seventy "promised" years are really not all that long. What you've invested your life into needs to count for far more than a mutual fund or an inheritance of tangible and/or monetary assets. Often, individuals  become involved with philanthropic activities thinking they do "lasting and permanent good." However, eternal values cannot be bound up in dollars and cents.

In verses 7 and 8, the Psalmist says...

• My hope is in God.
• He alone can keep me from a life of spiritual rebellion and disaster.

Bro. Grisham's Touch Points have eternity's values in view. Taking into consideration the brevity of life and the need for making our days here on earth matter for the Kingdom's sake, makes for better choices and a more valuable impact on and in our world.