A few months back I attended a meeting where the speaker was talking about ‘Afterglow’. He went on to say that after a person has finished his walk on earth, the works that he has done influences a lot of people. The books that he writes, the articles that are published, the sermons that are preached, the life that he lived etc., this could either be a positive or a negative influence. So the speaker said, Christian leaders should strive to live in such a way that their ‘Afterglow’ would be spectacular in the sense of influencing people positively. So a Christian leader should strive to write/publish books and involve himself in such activities so that he will have a influential ‘Afterglow’.
Is there a problem with what was said? If you look closely you will see that, the speaker earnestly called/pleaded Christian leaders to be influential not only when alive but also when gone. Noble call/persuasion.
But I found this disturbing. The Bible calls us to run a race so as to win the prize. Run the race of life, with the rules laid by God so that we win the prize God has for us. God’s people are called to run this race not with the ‘Afterglow’ in mind but the ‘Afterlife’ in mind.
If our race on earth is focusing on the ‘Afterglow’, we will be people and self pleasers trying to do something so that others can be benefited and in turn we be glorified (our flesh satisfied). But God calls us to run keeping God’s glory in mind. Do I say gifted Christian leaders should not write/publish books? Not at all. I mean to say, gifted Christian leaders write/publish good literature not so that they have a great ‘Afterglow’ but so that God’s church will be benefited, God will be glorified.
When our focus turns from God towards the world we are sinning and robing God of the glory due to him.
Let the glory of God be our priority and let us do everything keeping God’s glory in mind and not our glory!
