How Are You Today?

This is a common greeting we hear in North America.  4 words for which can probe a depth in philosophy!
If I say "Good", what then constitutes good?  Could it be perhaps that

• nothing bad has happened to me (so far)?
• everything is going my way?
• I am having a lot of fun in what I am doing?
• or, perhaps as my Asian roots would dictate, that I've made good profit today?

What is my measure of "good"? How effective has my day been in arriving at my desired state?  Steven Covey had some good advice in his book "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" over 20 years ago.  
Habit #2 reads "Begin with the End in Mind".


What end do you have in life today?  Going further into the meaning of the word "end", how do you want your life to end?  May I suggest a few thoughts?


Jesus said in the Parable of the Talents of how the good servant would be rewarded:
Matthew 25:23 His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ (NKJV)


Working with this as an end, I think we would be less sidetracked in life because we are working with the right end in life.  If we are working only for what is this side of Heaven, the temporal, the happiness of the day, then life might not go our way.  If we are living with the Right End, then as believers in Christ, our end is good.  Ours now is to be faithful.  And we of the Lord are blessed with power to do this, so rejoice.


By this measure, it makes no difference how my day was except whether it leads me any closer to my desired end.  The word used throughout the Bible is the word "fruitful".  Fruitful gives the idea of growing, not doing.  Of dependence, not effort.  As we feed on the Word of God, we become more and more fruitful.

Maybe then the question of greeting should be asked "Is your day fruitful in going towards your end?"

Matthew 16:26 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? (NKJV)

Work with the End in Mind.  May we be fruitful.