Three Life Choices You Don’t Want to Miss Before You Die

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If you could live your life over again, how would you live it differently? What values would you instill to give yourself a meaningful life? What if you could instill those values now? An excellent way to think about these things is to ask someone—people farther down wisdom’s road than you are.

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• Learning How to Take All Your Bad Thoughts Captive
• How to Make a Good Decision About Anything “In Faith”
• Eight Practical and Transforming Ways to Think About Your Past

Survey Says

Years ago, someone told me about a study of older adults. The question asked was, “If they could live their life over again, what would they do differently?” I was so impressed by their answers that they became a template for how I wanted to live my life. Here are their top three responses:

• I would take more risks.
• I would do important things.
• I would spend more time reflecting.

I took their responses, ran them through a biblical grid, and came up with the following life plan:

• I will step out in biblical faith as often as possible.
• I will do things that impact lives for generations.
• I will spend time in meditative, reflective thought.

Taking Risks

Taking risks without biblical guidance could be the errand of a fool. Taking biblical risks is godly. Christians are not passive or impulsive. Christians are intentional and informed risk-takers. It reminds me of Peter, who was standing on a boat during a dark and stormy night (Matthew 14:28-33). Christ was asking him to take a biblical risk. Peter was nervous about the offer for obvious reasons. Who walks on water? Peter was willing, but he needed assurance. Thus, he asked, “Is that you, Lord?” An important question. Christian decisions are faith-informed decisions. Once you inform your faith through the means of grace the Lord provides, nothing is left to do but get off the boat. There are the following four means of grace for faith-informed decisions.

• Canon: What does God’s Word say about what you want to do?
• Comforter: How is the Spirit of God illuminating your mind about what you want to do?
• Community: What do your close, competent, courageous Christian friends say about what you want to do?
• Conscience: How is your “inner voice” speaking to you about what you want to do?

Risk Question: What is God asking you to do, but you’re afraid to do it? You don’t want to come to the end of your life with a boatload of “would’ve, should’ve, could’ve” regrets.

Eternal Things

The eternally-minded person does not care if he gets a statue erected downtown for pigeons to do their business, but he cares about impacting lives for eternity’s sake. And there is no better way to impact lives than those who are closest to you. This concept is where the stay-at-home mom can refocus. She has the opportunity around her knees to shape little lives that will impact eternity. She’s doing eternal work in her home as she evangelizes and disciples her children for Christ. Spouses have similar opportunities. We married damaged goods. The fall of Adam hurt our spouses. Poor decision-making and other people also damaged them. One of the most important calls of a spouse’s life is cooperating with the Lord in the ongoing restoration of the person they married.

Eternal Questions: How are you cooperating with the Lord in restoring your spouse and children? Have you made ministry or work mistakes?

• A ministry mistake is a person doing ministry out there somewhere but not ministering to their spouse or children.
• The work mistake is the person who is more devoted to their job than to his spouse or children.

Thinking Time

The scattered brain is the bane of our culture. Our world has succeeded in dumbing down our minds to a tweet, quote, infographic, or video clip. Sitting before the Lord lasts as long as the water grab-and-go of a marathon runner. We feed our brains with continuous noise—to the point that there is no such thing as quiet anymore. If there were quiet time, it would be more of a crash time. We’re too exhausted to think. We ramp ourselves up to where it’s either 100 percent on or 100 percent off. I’m not talking about praying. I’m talking about spending time thinking. You take a thought and roll it over and over and over in your mind like a cow chewing cud until that thought masters you. You take your thoughts captive by bringing them to the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-6). That kind of mental discipline is rare for the post-modern mind.

Thinking Question: Do you have a quiet mind? Like Jesus, can you rest in the storms of your life?

Call to Action

Here are a few ways you can apply these three concepts to your life. Ask the Father to help you practicalize these ideas into your life. Make it personal to you. These are suggestive preferences, of course.

1. Risk: Write down three things you’d like to do but don’t know how to do them. Maybe it’s overcoming a sin pattern, building a relationship, paying down debt, or making a life change. What are those three things?
2. Eternity: Who are the closest people within your sphere of influence? How do you need to change to help them change? Write down their names and a few bullet points about what you need to do to better position yourself in a cooperative effort with the Lord to serve them.
3. Reflection: What hinders you from finding adequate time to think? Without becoming a legalist, how can you change this pattern in your life? I changed by journaling, which might not be a good fit for you. The process of writing forces me to stop and think. If you don’t learn to stop and think for adequate periods, you will be overcome by the active noise all around you.
4. If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently? Since you are alive, what if you mapped out a plan to do those things? Be specific. Tell a friend.

Perhaps today is a great time to make a decision in faith.

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Rick Thomas

Rick launched the Life Over Coffee global training network in 2008 to bring hope and help for you and others by creating resources that spark conversations for transformation. His primary responsibilities are resource creation and leadership development, which he does through speaking, writing, podcasting, and educating.

In 1990 he earned a BA in Theology and, in 1991, a BS in Education. In 1993, he received his ordination into Christian ministry, and in 2000 he graduated with an MA in Counseling from The Master’s University. In 2006 he was recognized as a Fellow of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors (ACBC).