Here at Honey Lake we have several beehives. Our bees work exceedingly hard to make honey for their respective colonies. They endure black bears, skunks, mice, ants, mites, pesticides, Purple Martins, hive beetles, and other hazards along the way, but with hard work, perseverance, and determination on their parts most of them eventually prosper and an empire is created. Soon enough their colony is enjoying a bee’s version of a land “flowing with milk and honey” . . .
And then disaster strikes. The Honey Lake beekeeper comes and within a few minutes robs them of all of their honey.
Fortunately for most of the bees of Honey Lake we have a beekeeper that provides substitute food by putting out “manna” for them in the form of buckets of sugar water that they devour like little flying pigs. But sadly not all of the bee colonies will be included in this program. Some are so ravaged by their enemies that they are no longer useful citizens and those hives are destroyed and replaced. Approximately 25% of them have to be replaced each year . . .
I met with 21 people last night and one of the things that I discussed with them was “empire builders”. Most everyone in the world is an empire builder of one sort or another. Similar to Honey Lake bees we go about our lives building our empires. We work hard building and accumulating our honey and face all kinds of obstacles but then one day disaster strikes and in an instant we’re stripped of everything for which we have worked so hard.
We drop dead with a heart attack or similar malady, and our honey goes to someone else. All our honey-money is gone in an instant.
Yikes!
What then?
Well it depends upon what kind of empire we built, no?
If we are self-serving and our “honey” has been the old portfolio, or the old golf game, or the old lady, or that old devil booze, or the flash and cash of this world, then our empire will not withstand the beekeeper’s watchful eye and the determination to retain only the vibrant bees will not bode well for us. If however, our empire is built on the “rock”, Jesus Christ, and his empire called heaven, then we will enjoy our land of milk and honey forever.
I told our group, (the Honey Lake Church and Worldwide Ministry Board of Directors) that somehow our ministry needs to convince the empire builders of this world to build their empires in heaven and not on this earth.
When the great “Beekeeper in the Sky” comes to collect His honey will He lovingly feed, care, and protect you throughout eternity, or will He determine that your empire built on what this wicked world has to offer needs to be destroyed.
The Bible asks us to consider what good it would do for us to accumulate all of the wealth, fame, and glory of the entire world if we were to lose our own souls . . . It is the most important question that this world (that seems to have gone mad) should be pondering, but sadly from all appearances not that many of us are thinking about it. Most of us are chasing the perishable things that will be left behind and will eventually be destroyed by rust, moth, fire, leaving crumbling ruins that are covered with vines.
I know a man who adds many more millions, (tens of millions actually), to his hive each and every year. He tells me it is his way of “keeping score”. The key word there is “HIS” way of keeping score. God doesn’t keep score that way.
My friend’s net worth will not make one whit of difference when he kneels naked before God and gives an accounting of what he did with his life. God will want to know how he used that wealth that He allowed him to have. Did he use it to build ministries such as ours? (I wish – I wish). Did souls come to the Lord in no small part due to his witness?
Or did he spend his time drinking fine wines, attending polo tournaments, galas, jetting to that next big deal, and hanging with the beautiful ones?
We will not take it with us folks. In fact the Bible emphatically says we will be naked and all alone. No money, Rolex, wife, kids, entourage, friends; just us and God having a little chat about our life. It is a safe bet that He will be more interested in our having sat on Boards of Directors that build His empire than Boards that built our own.
Selah! Stop, rest, and think about this for a moment. PLEASE! Ask yourself the following questions this morning:
- Are you living a life centered on yourself, or are you fully engaged in building God’s empire?
- Are you using whatever resources God has given you to do all that you can to help build His kingdom?
- Is your idea of being a Christian attending church for the obligatory one hour per week, grudgingly shelling out the obligatory 10% tithe, and smiling the obligatory smile to the right people while ignoring the wrong people?
The Bible states, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.”
Jesus gave it all for us in order that we might live a life of love bathed in His glory forever. Today it’s our turn to demonstrate our appreciation through our faith which translates into action. If we talk the talk and don’t walk the walk, we allow the enemy to destroy us and we just might not see heaven. Drink a cup of coffee this morning, and go out there and make some God Honey . . . Yummmmmy
James 2:18
“Now someone may argue, “Some people have faith; others have good deeds.” But I say, “How can you show me your faith if you don’t have good deeds? I will show you my faith by my good deeds.”