I COULD HAVE HAD A V8

I Could Have Had A V8!Have you ever hit yourself in the head and said, “I could have had a V8?” For many of us, that is a commercial that was quite popular in the 1980’s. In the commercial people were drinking beverages other than V8 juice which was being advertised. Once these misguided beverage hounds were handed a bottle of V8 juice, or they would find one in the back of the refrigerator they would invariably hit themselves in the head and exclaim, “I could have had a V8.”I stumbled onto this quote this week. I read it and immediately wished I had the eloquence of C.S. Lewis.   He succinctly writes in 84 words what I stumbled around trying to communicate for roughly ten years.“It is so easy to think that the church has a lot of different objects – education, building, missions, holding services ...The church exists for no other purpose but to draw men into Christ, to make them little Christ's. If they are not doing that , all the cathedrals, clergy, missions, sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time. God became man for no other purpose. It is even doubtful, you know, whether the whole universe was created for any other reason.” C. S. LewisYou see, C.S. Lewis is right; the only reason we are to exist together is to draw men to Christ and make them little Christ’s. We wast a lot of time in the church doing things that truly never satisfy  and really are not what we are called or designed to be doing. And after doing them we sound like a commercial, “I could have had a V8.”This is why the psalmist writes, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12) The Apostle Paul felt urgency in his life and ministry as well. This is why he writes such exhortations as these, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” (Rom 13:11) “Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times!”(Ephesians 5:16, THE MESSAGE) “Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.” (Colossians 4:5)So here is what we should be praying for each other, that we would number our days, make the most of every opportunity and live wisely toward all of those who do not know Jesus. I just do not want to have to say, “I could have had a V8” ever again!