The Matthew 28:19 Project

My sister used to live in Alexandria, Virginia, and her apartment sat directly across the street from a very old cemetery. Whenever I visited, I’d cross over and wander through that historic graveyard, letting my imagination fill in the stories behind the names engraved in stone. Recently, Pastor Buddy preached a sermon about living life “between the dashes”—the small line between the date of birth and the date of death. That tiny dash represents the entirety of our lives. Time is the currency of life, and God repeatedly reminds us how fleeting it is.

James addresses this head-on when he asks, “What is your life?” and then answers it by saying our lives are like “a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Here for a moment. Gone the next.

That phrase—living in the dash—has been stuck in my head since Sunday. It makes me pause and ask: Am I living for Jesus? Is my dash filled with Him? Is yours? When I look at my own life, I can’t help but wonder whether I’m truly making an impact on those around me. When my time comes and God calls me home, what kind of influence will I leave behind? Will anyone remember me? Or have I lived in such an unimpressive way that nobody will even notice when I’m gone?

For years, I worried about that. I used to fear that if I didn’t show up for work, no one would even notice. Now, I know better. If I don’t show up these days, my coworkers will send out a search party! That shift didn’t happen overnight. It came from changing the direction of my life and intentionally shaping the impact my testimony for Jesus would leave.

I hope my writings outlast me. I hope someone stumbles across one of my blogs, or reads a devotional on either the Matthew 28:19 Project or the church’s Facebook page, and chooses to return to God… or return to church… or maybe even believe in Jesus for the very first time.

Jesus made it clear: unless we are born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Regeneration, or the new birth, is the first step in salvation. Our first birth doesn’t qualify us for heaven, but our second birth does. We must become born again in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Only the Holy Spirit can transform a spiritually dead heart into one that truly lives.

As Pastor Buddy says, that little dash on our tombstones holds every choice, every moment, every decision we make. And what we do with that dash determines our eternity. We aren’t promised tomorrow. All we have is today. And today, the most important question any of us will ever answer is simple: Am I saved or lost? Many believe they can reach heaven through good works or simply by being “good enough,” but salvation doesn’t come through effort. It comes through surrender to Jesus Christ alone.

So I ask you—do you know where your dash is leading? I know where mine is. I know my eternity is settled because there is only one way to Heaven, and that is through Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).

Your dash matters. Make sure your eternity is settled.