How do I live my life as it was on loan?

A life on loan, like every loan, is given with the expectation of a return.  We are to return more than we are given.  One day we will be held accountable for how we spent or invested our lives.  Life begins with and belongs to God.  Though we often speak of life and all it comprises as gifts from God, these gifts technically, belong to him.

What is life?  Life consists of: loves, intersections, fortune, and eternity.  Treating each of these components of life as God directs is the way to live a life on loan.

Loves:
What you love is seen in your passions, your purpose, your priorities, and your values. The love Jesus spoke of involved “heart, soul, and mind” (Matthew 22:37) - a love that goes beyond emotions and involves actions, rationale and intellect. Whom you love includes the people in your life and God. Understanding your loves is foundational for living a life on loan.

Intersections:
If your life has intersected with God, he is influencing your story; and if you are intersecting with others, he wants to influence them through you. God places you alongside others so that your story intersects with their stories in such a way that God’s story becomes part of their stories. When you demonstrate the love of Christ in practical ways, you’ll earn the right to tell others what motivates your service and when your stories intersect…grace happens.

Fortune:
All of us have resources that come to use in the form of a loan from God. Whether you began life with more or less, you have some amount of fortune and can invest your fortune to accomplish God’s purposes both in your life and in the lives of others. God can accomplish much with people who may have only meager resources but who have big heart.

Eternity:
Imagine a line on a blackboard extending into eternity. Eternity has no beginning or end. Along that line of eternity, your life would best be represented by a small dot. If looking at this scenario from afar, you would probably conclude, “Life is very short and eternity is very long.” What if it were possible to think about living your life in relation to the line and not simply the dot? What if God has structured life in such a way that the things you do in this dot could influence all of eternity? One day you’ll stand before God-the one who loaned you your life. If you want to hear him say “Well done!” then you want to prove faithful with your dot of time.

Being indebted to God is a good thing. There’s a saying that goes something like this:  If you owe a man a hundred dollars, you’ve got a problem. Bit if you owee a man a million dollars, then he’s got a problem.” God will do everything he can, even move Heaven and earth, to see that you don’t default on this loan. Why? Because it’s in your best interest! And it will all come back to him, along with a wonderful return. He will work with you to help you succeed in bringing back so much more than he ever gave you.