retire; it is really up to you.
But this idea that when
How to
Get More
Out of Life
Scripture: Philippians 3:13; Luke 15:17
Do we really achieve maximum value and happiness
out of life? Wouldn't all of us like to experience more
of life's opportunities? How much are you really get-
ting from life?
An interesting and thought-provoking newspaper
story told of an 80-year-old man who had kept a de-
tailed diary of everything he had done each hour of
every day for most of his life. He was a very meticu-
lous character, it would appear. By studying this
diary, he figured out the use he had made of his
time during his life. And this is what he came up
with: He had spent twenty-six years sleeping,
twenty-one years working; 228 days shaving and 140
days paying bills! He also spent more than twenty-six
days scolding his children, and two days yelling at
his dogs. Only twenty-six hours were devoted to
laughing. (He didn't state the time used in going to
church. Probably the reason he laughed only twenty-
six hours was that he didn't go to church often
enough!) Well, on the surface, this seems a rather
bleak description of what one man got out of life.
Of course, people have various ideas about this
matter. One of the brightest and liveliest radio pro-
grams on the air is called, "Rambling With Gam-
bling." This early morning show has been on the air
for around forty years, and is carried in New York on
station WOR, on which I myself have been broad-
casting for a good many years.
John Gambling, with his father before him, may
be the oldest broadcasting team in radio. Lowell
Thomas is, I believe, the oldest broadcaster person-
ality in length of service on the airwaves today. Any-
way, John Gambling is a friend of mine, a very fine
and delightful man. But I would like to take issue
with a certain sponsor for his program. There is a
retirement center in this area using a slogan, which
John has mentioned at times and it caught my at-
tention: "When you stop working, then you can start
living."
Now, personally, I don't buy this concept. The
idea that working is painful and only when you get
through with it can you really start living doesn't
make sense, at least to me. Personally, I wouldn't
know what to do with myself if I did not work. I
would hate to have to go to some retirement center
and sit around doing nothing except play golf for the
rest of my life. You can only play so much golf be-
fore you get fed up with it. Likewise, you can only
fish or play shuffleboard for so many hours. Of
course, there are lots of things you can do when you
Copyright © 1975 by Foundation for Christian Living, Pawling, N.Y.
you stop working you start living is open to question.
At any rate, I want to give you a formula that will
enable any human being to get more out of living,
whatever his status. It is a three-point formula:
1. Learn all you can from your mistakes and then
walk away from them, forget them.
2. Know yourself and treat other people with
dignity.
3. Commit your life to God's guidance.
Now let us take that first principle. One thing
that causes people no end of misery is that con-
stantly they dwell on their mistakes. Over and over
they think about the so-called dumb and stupid
things they have done. When mistakes have been
made, they feel their lives and their chances for the
future have been absolutely ruined. So their mis-
takes dominate the rest of their lives.
Really, there is only one thing to do about a mis-
take. See what the mistake can teach you; then,
having learned wisdom from it, walk away and go
on.
S ome time ago I was reading a book on George
Washington by Howard Fast, called "The Unvan-
quished." He presents a magnificent picture of
Washington. The story begins with Washington's
campaign in Brooklyn, where he lost 3,000 men. He
was no match for the British and the Hessians, with
their superior training and equipment. They pushed
him down to the riverbank. Washington stood like a
colossus, his generals around him. Fast points out
that none of his generals was over 30 years of age,
and one of them was 24. (The American Revolution
must have been a youth revolution.) These men
stood around this great character, trying to draw
comfort from him as from a father.
And they followed him in one of the great re-
treats of history. Washington led his army across the
river into Manhattan. There the British and the Hes-
sians made him retreat to White Plains; and from
White
Plains they drove him across to New Jersey; and
from there they pushed him relentlessly down
through New Jersey. It was retreat, retreat.
One day General Nathanael Greene made some
sort of mistake. What it was I do not know, but he
imperiled the army, and General Greene was over-
come with regret. As he lay on his cot bemoaning his
error, he noticed a shadow pass over him. Washing-
ton had quietly come into the tent. He sat down on
the edge of the cot, and in the gathering darkness
Greene looked up at him. "I'm sorry, sir," he said.
"Yes," Washington replied. "I understand. But lis-
ten, son. You made a mistake. I've made mistakes
too. Let's forget it and go on."
Then Washington stood up and continued, "We're
in desperate circumstances; but we shall go on. We
shall go on!"
 Greene got to his feet. "Yes, sir. We shall go on.
We shall go on!" With 2,200 men, Washington
crossed the Delaware; on Christmas Eve he captured
Trenton and changed the course of the war.
If Washington had said, "Well, we made a mis-
take. It's all washed up; we're finished; there's noth-
ing we can do about it," then there never would
have been the immortal Washington or the immortal
Greene or, for that matter, the nation.
So walk away from your mistakes a wiser person,
after thought and prayer. "Forgetting those things
which are behind," the Bible tells us, "and reaching
forth unto those things which are before..." That
text is profound in its wisdom. Learn from your mis-
takes, but do not let them hold you back. Walk away
from them, for they are in the past. Let them re-
main there.
A n outstanding writer, Arthur Gordon, was Edito-
rial Director of Guideposts and a contributor to
the Reader's Digest. His article about a famous psy-
chiatrist is a masterpiece. He tells how he learned to
bypass the roadblock of regret for mistakes.
Waiting for his psychiatrist friend in a restaurant,
Arthur was feeling frustrated and depressed because
an important project had fallen through. He was
meeting this psychiatrist for lunch, not as a patient
but as a friend. When the psychiatrist arrived, he
saw at once that Arthur was troubled.
"If only I had not done this," Arthur lamented. "I
don't know what's wrong with me. How could I have
messed things up that way? If only I hadn't done it
that way!" he repeated. And for fifteen minutes he
continued to outline what was troubling him.
After lunch, the psychiatrist said to him, "Come
over to my office. I want to play some tapes for you.
I want you to hear three conversations with three
different people. See if you can detect a repetitive
phrase in these conversations. It's the common de-
nominator.
The first tape was from a man for whom business
was going badly. He was condemning himself, say-
ing, "If only I hadn't done this (or that)," berating
himself.
Another tape was by a woman who didn't marry
because she had a sense of obligation to her mother,
who didn't want her to get married. After her
mother died there were no more marital opportuni-
ties, and she recalled bitterly all the chances she
had let go by.
Then there was another recording by a father
who was condemning himself because his teenage
son was in trouble with the police. If he'd only done
this; if only he hadn't done that...he kept repeating.
The psychiatrist switched off the tape recorder.
"Do you get the repetitive phrase in each tape? It's a
phrase that is full of a subtle poison."
"Yes," Arthur answered, "it's two words-'if only.' "
Copyright © 1975 by Foundation for Christian Living, Pawling, N.Y.
"That's right," said Dr. Smiley Blanton, "those are
two of the saddest words in any language. 'If only I
had done that; if only I hadn't done that.' You'd be
amazed if you knew how many thousands of times
I've listened to woeful sentences beginning with
those two words, 'if only.' In our conversation in the
restaurant you, too, used that phrase, 'if only, if
only, if only.' "
"Well," asked Mr. Gordon, "what is the remedy?"
Dr. Blanton replied, "Let me suggest two of the
happiest words in the language: 'Next time.' Slide
those two words into your mind to cancel out the 'if
only.' Those words supply a lift instead of creating
drag."
Gordon said he took the two words and, following
the doctor's picturesque description, "slid them" into
his brain. "I know it's only a fancy," he said, "but I
could almost hear them click. From that moment I
felt so much better. I knew that there was indeed a
next time, that with the help of God I could make a
next time, and still a next time!"
So, to get more out of life, whatever you may
have done—or not done—whether bad or just plain
stupid, ask the Lord's help and then, forgetting the
past, go forward to next time. Don't be victimized by
your mistakes, your errors, your sins. Whatever
you've done, get it straightened out with God and
then put into your consciousness this new and crea-
tive and powerful phrase, "next time."
The second point is: to get the most out of life
you have to know yourself. That, of course, isn't al-
ways easy, and many people go through life trying to
find themselves. But if you like and respect yourself,
then you will like and respect others. Being alive will
be exciting, and you will put a lot of yourself into
life! So get wise to yourself and get more out of life.
O ne of the greatest stories in the Bible is that of
the prodigal son. You know, the Bible writers
are the greatest storytellers who ever lived. And
they tell a story in a few words, and an immortal
story, at that.
This story is about a certain boy who was tired of
living at home. (Probably there was a generation gap
with his parents.) So he went to his father and said,
"Dad, I've had it. I want to get away from here. I've
only got one brother, and I know you are going to
divide your property, so give me my half now." And
the father did as he asked.
The boy took his half and went off into a far
country. Where did he go? Well, I suppose these days
it would be Broadway or Hollywood or some other
glamour spot. Anyway, he headed for the big city.
But he was a fool, and people took him for a ride.
He spent all his money. He didn't save it; he didn't
buy any stocks or bonds; he just spent it. He didn't
have much sense, when you come right down to it.
And he ended up with nothing. He didn't have any
friends; he didn't have any money; he didn't have
any training. There wasn't any welfare relief in those
days, so he hired himself out to a man who had a lot
of pigs. It wasn't a very high-class job, only tending
the pigs and feeding them on bean pods. His boss
must have been very mean, because he wouldn't
even give this boy any of the bean pods for himself,
and the boy was starved.
Then the story dramatically says—and this is one
of the greatest things you'll ever read: " And when
he came to himself..." That is, he got wise to him-
self. He figured out, "I've done a foolish thing. But at
least I can go home and ask my father for a job as a
servant. I don't want anything more from him, be-
cause I've blown it all; but maybe he'll just give me
some work in his fields so that I can at least eat." So
he went home.
His father was standing on a hilltop. He had been
there every day looking for his boy. Finally he saw
him coming in the distance. He ran to meet him and
threw his arms around him and hugged him and
kissed him and said, "Boy, I sure am glad to see you
back! Come home and we'll give you a robe and a
ring on your hand and shoes on your feet. You're
right back where you belong, and we're going to
have a big feast. We are going to eat and be merry
because my son is alive again!"
Well, he was a much wiser young man now. He
had come to himself. Nobody will get more from life
than they are now experiencing until they come to
themselves and are masters of themselves. They will
then acquire wisdom and insight and know-how to
learn from their mistakes and to know who they are.
They will know how to live, not in the "if only" but in
the "next time."
And the last principle is, get with God. After hav-
ing come to yourself, get with God and He will
change your life. Why do people make constant and
continual mistakes? Why do they do the same old
thing again and again, as if to say, "Won't I ever
learn anything?" Why do they do that? It is because
they themselves are always the same; they have
gotten into a mistake, an error groove. Everything is
going to be wrong in this case, because you cannot
expect rightness to come out of wrongness. The only
thing you can get out of wrongness is wrongness.
If things are to be right, one must experience the
grace of Jesus Christ. He changes a person and takes
away not only his sinfulness but his wrong thinking,
his wrong concepts, his wrong attitudes and, hence,
his wrong doing.
It is amazing how God can change people's lives.
He can change your life in one minute. If your long-
ing is deep enough, you can be changed by an act of
divine grace. I know that because I have seen it
happen many times.
O ne time I was making a speech in the Palmer
House in Chicago to a big crowd. It wasn't ex-
actly a sermon, but everyone knew that I was a min-
Copyright © 1975 by Foundation for Christian Living, Pawling, N.Y.
ister. And when I got through a man came up to me
and said, "I'm in terrible shape."
"Aren't you happy?" I asked.
"How can I be happy, being in as terrible shape as
I'm in?" he replied.
"How do you mean, 'terrible shape'?" I asked. "You
look all right."
"Oh," he said, "I've messed everything up. I'm a
very bad man. Will you talk with me?" he pleaded.
So I took him upstairs to my hotel room. " All
right, tell me all about it," I said.
So he poured it all out, and he was right: he was
in terrible shape and he had done some pretty rot-
ten things. When he finished, I said to him, "Well,
what do you want me to do?"
"You're a minister, aren't you? Why don't you tell
me how I can be a different kind of man. I'm sick of
it!"
Well, you know, the Lord works in a strange way.
There is a church in the Loop, and it has a cross on
the top. Chimes are played from this tower at cer-
tain times every day. And they were playing a hymn,
which we could hear through the open window, "My
faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior
divine!" I sat thinking, "Should I give him a psycho-
logical, psychiatric conversation and see if we can
explore the consciousness and come up with some
kind of a scientific answer?" Then I heard the hymn.
And immediately my good, old evangelical faith gave
me my answer. "I’ll tell you what to do. Get down on
your knees, right there by that chair. You have told
me all that is wrong. Now tell the Lord that you
haven't any strength on your own. Ask Him to fill you
with His grace. Tell Him you want to be changed."
He repeated almost the same words.
Now you wouldn't think that just saying those
words would accomplish something great. But it did,
there was expressed a deep, sincere desire from a
troubled soul. After a while he got up and sat in the
chair; he was very quiet. Finally he said, "I feel
peaceful and happy. The Lord has changed me." Just
like that!
This man lived for many years. He told me when-
ever I saw him that life never had any meaning until
he had that experience, that "life has been wonder-
ful ever since."
So I'd suggest in closing, let us all let go our mis-
takes and, like the prodigal son, come to ourselves,
then come to the Father, and life will be greater
than ever before.
Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, we ask You to bless
this simple message. Bless the lives of all of us.
Come into our lives and change us by Your Divine
grace. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.