What Would We Want If We Had Three Wishes?

A few years back, the late Erma Bombeck wrote a book entitled, “I Want to Grow Hair, I Want to Grow Up, I Want to Go to Boise” (Amazon.com). This unusual title stemmed from a response to a question that was asked of a little boy undergoing chemotherapy treatments: “What would you want if you had three wishes?“

To this little boy, the desire to grow hair, grow up, and to go to Boise, were the most important things in his life. His response reminds us of how precious even the smallest blessings can be when we are faced with the prospect of losing them. Hair seems a trivial matter until suddenly we no longer have any. Boise seems like a dull and distant place until we realize we may never get to go there. Life seems a plentiful commodity until we realize its end is rapidly approaching. Of course, three wishes are usually only granted in fairy tales, but if we as Christians were so blessed, what would we want if we had three wishes?

1) Would we want to enjoy the life God has given us with our family? — Many times, we take for granted the small joys of life with the people we love. My mother and grandmother have both passed from this life, but I still recall the many telephone conversations we had together, not fully realizing how brief life really is (cf. Job 7:6-7; Job 9:25; James 4:14).

2) Would we want to serve the Lord here on earth as long as He has use for us? — When we think of our work in the kingdom of Christ, do we realize there is always so much more work to be done — more lessons to be learned and taught, more of God’s wonderful word to be shared with those who are lost in sin, more souls to be exposed to the gospel of salvation, and more saints to be edified and encouraged? Like most Bible teachers, I often pray that my labors are of value to the Lord’s purpose and plan, reminding myself of the inspired words found in Ecclesiastes 9:10.

3) Would we anxiously desire to go to heaven? — Like the apostle Paul, we should want to spend eternity with our heavenly Father and our precious Lord. We should often pray for the strength to remain "steadfast and immovable" (1 Corinthians 15:58) — to keep "pressing toward the goal" (Philippians 3:14) — to let every action for the Lord be done with courage and love (1 Corinthians 16:13-14) — and that we do not leave ourselves "disqualified" when we have preached to others (1 Corinthians 9:27).

Beloved, our ultimate desire should be to stand before the Lord with great confidence in that last day (Hebrews 10:16-23), and hear Him say “Well done, good and faithful servant ..... Enter into the joy of your Lord”  (Matthew 25:21).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets