The moment God takes us to heaven will be our highest joy. We’ll be transported by angelic ushers to the Holy City where we’ll be with Christ and with all who have preceded us. The Bible refers to this as a departure, a reunion, a relocation, and a homecoming. For the apostle Paul, it meant going to “be with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).

But to those without Christ, death is a dreaded affair; hence, the variety of idioms and euphemisms used to disguise its meaning—checking out, buying the farm, crossing the bar, kicking the bucket, biting the dust, pushing up daisies, cashing in the chips, playing a harp, resting in peace, and leaving the building.

Here’s another. “When my car slid on a patch of ice,” someone said, “I thought my number was up.” I suppose that’s based on the belief—a biblical one—that God has appointed us a certain number of days on earth, which He alone knows.

There’s nothing morbid about that for me. When my number’s up, that’s where I’m going—up!

But until I go up, I want to send some numbers upward, and so do you. We want to leave a mark as we travel from here to eternity. Every day we’re sending our numbers up to heaven, seeking to add to heaven’s statistics—leading people to Christ, multiplying our witness, accumulating good deeds for Christ’s sake, funding the missionary enterprise, helping the poor, and recording our prayer requests in heaven.

Let me say at the outset—I believe we underestimate these figures. Your life does more good than you know. We seldom see more than a fraction of our results. One day, I had the opportunity of speaking with a pastor who is doing a great work for the Lord, and I was humbled when he told me God had used an early radio broadcast of Turning Point to influence him toward the Lord and toward vocational ministry. I thought of all those who helped pay for the radio time, produce the programs, and get that recording on the air. None of them knew that a specific boy would be listening on a specific night somewhere, but the Bible teaches that our labor in the Lord isn’t in vain.

Only in heaven will we learn about the direct, indirect, immediate, eventual, and eternal blessings of our usefulness for Christ. Let me suggest five actions that can outlive you and leave a mark for eternity.

Pray

The first is prayer. When God calls you home, the influence of your prayers will remain. Reverend E. M. Bounds was a Civil War chaplain who authored classic books on prayer. He wrote, “Prayers are deathless. The lips that uttered them may close in death, the heart that felt them may cease to beat, but the prayers live before God. God’s heart is set on them and prayers outlive the lives of those who uttered them; outlive a generation, outlive an age, outlive a world. The man is the most immortal who has done the most and the best praying.”¹

When a friend of mine was speaking at a banquet, he met a children’s ministry director who said she was one of eleven children, many of whom strayed badly during their adolescence and adulthood. Her father, however, was a man of prayer who begged the Lord for his children to be saved and happy in Jesus Christ. “He prayed all his children into the kingdom,” the woman said, “the last four coming to the Lord after his death.”²

D. L. Moody once wrote, “Though we may not live to see the answer to our prayers, if we cry mightily to God, the answer will come.”³

Win Souls

Besides praying, the greatest way to impact eternity is winning souls to Christ. I’d like to remind you of Bill Bright’s maxim. He was one of the greatest soul-winning forces in the twentieth century, and he once explained his secret: “Although I have shared Christ personally with many thousands of people through the years, I am a rather reserved person and I do not always find it easy to witness. But I have made this my practice, and I urge you to do the same: Assume that whenever you are alone with another person for more than a few moments, you are there by divine appointment to explain to that person the love and forgiveness he can know through faith in Jesus Christ.”⁴

Invest in the Next Generation

We also have the opportunity of investing our lives in the next generation. The psalmist prayed, “Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, do not forsake me, until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come” (Psalm 71:18).

Perhaps you have children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews whom you can influence. If not, the children’s ministry at your local church probably needs workers and volunteers. A nearby college may need mentors, or a group of college kids may need a home-cooked meal.

Think of the mark you can make by giving a few words of counsel to a young person who crosses your path. Years ago a teenager named William Colgate left home to make a life for himself. His parents were too poor to sustain him. Along the way he met the captain of a canal boat who listened to his story and said, “Well, let me pray with you…and give you a little advice…. Be a good man; give your heart to Christ; give the Lord all that belongs to Him of every dollar you earn; make an honest soap; give a full pound; and I am certain you will yet be a prosperous and rich man.”

Those few words led William to dedicate himself to Christ, tithe from his first dollar, and build a great company that still thrives to this day—Colgate.

The Bible says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). God can use you this year to pass along your wisdom, faith, hope, and legacy to others. A word here, a verse there, a word of testimony, an encouragement, a note, a text, a word fitly spoken—the impact can reach into eternity.

Use Your Spiritual Gifts

Fourth, use your spiritual gifts. In the book of Revelation, some of those saved during the Tribulation perished while trying to use their resources and gifts for the Lord. A voice from heaven said, “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on,” and the Holy Spirit replied, “Yes…that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them” (Revelation 14:13).

That’s an encouraging truth for us all. God has given us opportunities and spiritual gifts. Some preach, some lead, some teach, some encourage, some labor in obscure ways, and some, like the woman in Mark 14:8, simply do what they can. But the Bible promises, “Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” (Galatians 6:9).

When we get to heaven, we can rest awhile and watch as our works follow us.

Personally Accept Jesus Christ as Savior

Let me end with the most important thing. If you want to impact eternity, let eternity impact you. Give your heart to Jesus Christ. We never know when our number will be up. None of us knows if we’ll be here this time next year. If you aren’t certain you are bound for heaven through the shed blood of Christ, don’t wait another year, not another month, not another day. Bow your head, and confess your sins to God. Trust the One who died for you and rose again. Receive Him as your Savior and Lord. Claim His promise of eternal life. The Bible says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

And then join us as we live from here to eternity, leaving marks along the way and investing our lives in things eternal for Christ and His cause.

Citations:

¹E. M. Bounds, Purpose in Prayer (New York: Revell, 1920), 9.

²Robert J. Morgan, Prayers and Promises for Worried Parents (Nashville: Howard Books, 2013), 71.

³Dwight Lyman Moody, Prevailing Prayer (Chicago: Revell, 1884), 116.

⁴Bill Bright, “How To Tell Others About Christ,” Worldwide Challenge, April 1993, 17.