I recently watched a decorating video entitled, The Biggest Decorating Mistake We All Make. The title drew me in! I mean, who wants to make a BIG mistake in their home decor? While watching, I found that I, too, am guilty of making this “Huge blunder!” The good news is, it’s fixable! (Read on and I’ll tell you what was shared as the biggest decor faux pas.)

The video didn’t just make me want to go take care of the problem areas in my home, it also got me thinking about BIG MISTAKES we make in other areas of our lives – things that could be avoided.

Let’s start today with the one that is the most detrimental. I’m calling it The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime.

Before I watched the decorating video, I was trying to anticipate what the decorating mistake was. It was all about perspective – too small a picture over a sofa, or too large a television for the small table, for example. Maybe you’re doing that same kind of guessing right now with my statement. What comes to your mind when you consider The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime? Some may say…

• Marrying the wrong person!
• Not following your dreams! One blogger put it this way,
  “Not doing the inner work to create the outer life you dream of.”
• Not saving for retirement!
• Not believing in yourself!
• Not getting more education!
• Not completing a personal goal!

The list could go and on…but these are all incorrect.

For the answer of life’s biggest mistake, we’re not opening up a popular blog. We’re not listening to a dynamic motivational speaker, we’re going to the One Who gave us life – our great God.

In Luke 12, Jesus speaks to a group of people who had gathered around Him. Listen to His warning to them and to us ~

And He spoke a parable unto them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.

¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have no room to store my fruits?’

¹⁸ And he said, ‘This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I store all my fruits and my goods.

¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’

²⁰ But God said unto him, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?’

²¹ So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

This man planned out his business,

“I’ll get more!”.

He planned out his life,

“I’ll build barns to store everything!“,

but he had no control over his death.

Jesus called this man a fool, not because he was rich, but because he put all his value in the things of this life with no consideration of where he would spend eternity. His soul was the most valuable possession, but he made no provision for it.

People of this world would look at this rich man and think he was successful, but God says this is foolishness. One author said,

It isn’t only sin to give material things too high a place in your life – it is also stupid.

If that seems too blunt for you, stop and consider the weight of this parable. Eternity banks on it! The mistake of a lifetime is to pour our best efforts into the temporal things of this life and never think about where we will spend eternity. Jesus is giving a warning to not be foolish like this man. In a moment, this life is ended. None of us knows when that moment will be, so we must not delay considering that Christ has made the provision for us to have a relationship with Him now, and then a home with Him forever when this life is ended.

The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime would be to pour all our time and efforts into this world and miss out on the blessing of knowing Christ, both now and after our death. The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime is to think that accumulating more stuff and climbing higher and higher on the ladder of success is where real life is. Friend, that’s a lie from the pit of hell. Christ came to give us real life through Himself.

If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior for your sin and you’re wondering why you’re feeling empty and unsatisfied, even though you have lots of worldly possessions, it’s because your heart is craving what God created you for – a personal relationship with Him. To know Him is to truly be rich in this life and in the next.

Don’t make the biggest mistake and miss it. Just like the decorating mistake, this is fixable. Just don’t be like the man in the parable and wait too long.

If you want to read more about how to know Christ as your Savior, I invite you to go here. Feel free to email me at Refreshherblog@gmail.com. with any questions you may have.