“The Tragedy of Wasted Influence”

George W. Truett (May 6, 1867 – July 7, 1944) was a great American clergy man and writer. He penned the book, “A Quest for Souls”. In his book he tells the story of man who met the Lord later in life and was so inspired that he dedicated his life to reading, study, and living the Word of God.  The man had two sons and grandchildren.

His sons and grandsons had lived most of their lives with an unsaved father and grandfather. A father that placed importance on everything but church. But, then one day at the age of sixty-eight the man was confronted with the question, “Are you prepared to meet God?” The man that thought he knew everything and had accomplished much did not have an answer.

The question gnawed at the man, until finally he attended church and was convicted of his sin. The conviction was so strong that the man was determined to live his life for Jesus Christ and even better he would confront others with the question that changed his life, “Are you prepared to meet God?” The man decided he would first pose the question to his sons.

Let’s see what happened…

Theme: “The Tragedy of Wasted Influence”

Scripture Readings:

James 5:20 (NIRV) reads, “Then here is what I want everyone to remember. Anyone who turns a sinner from going down the wrong path will save him from death. God will erase many sins by forgiving him.”

Reflection:

The man in the story came to the startling and disappointing conclusion that “no man liveth to himself”. Today, we would say, “no man is an island”. This conclusion was drawn because as the man talked to his sons and invited them to attend church, the sons replied, “Well Dad I guess we’ll start going to church when we get to be about sixty-eight, like you.  Not, being able to convince his sons to go to church, he decided he would invite his grandsons.

The grandsons winked at each other as their grandpa invited them to church. The grandsons with a little wit in their voices said, “Well grandpa, we will start going to church when we turn sixty-eight or seventy”. The grandsons were quite pleased with themselves by their comment. But, their comments fell on the man, their grandpa, like a ton of cement. The man realized he had wasted not only much of his own life by waiting so long to come to Christ, but his influence on his sons and grandsons had also set the stage to waste their lives.

The man realized “The Tragedy of Wasted Influence”. The man had influence over his family, relatives, friends, and associates. But, his influence to bring others to Jesus Christ had been wasted all of his formative years and most of his adult life. When others saw him, what came to mind was his success in business and his well-to-do life. What’s more all of it had been accomplished by him without attending church and without any regard for Christ. This was a severe tragedy to the man. His influence to lead others to Christ had been wasted for far too many years. Now, as an elderly man, no one wanted to listen to his testimony of Christ.

The man was pained by the thought that his influence ruined the lives of his sons and their families? He wondered had his influence led his relatives, neighbors, and co-workers down a path that did not prepare them to meet God? The man was broken-hearted at the thought. So, what can we learn from this story?

Who is in your circle of influence and have you led a life that guided them to Jesus Christ? Are you living the tragedy of a wasted life, and have not realized it yet? If so, act now! It just might not be too late.

Amen!