I’m convinced that most folks want to do something truly meaningful with their lives. Unfortunately, most labor under the mistaken assumption that accomplishing something great is reserved for just a chosen few. Heroes. Martyrs. Saints. But not them.

But what if the greatest thing is not to go out in a blaze of glory but to honor God with a life that seeks consistently to do His will in the little things? Not necessarily to climb the highest mountain but to stay on track, day by day, challenge by challenge, as you walk the course life has laid out for you? What if true greatness is not dying for your faith but staying true to it over an often-difficult lifetime?

Think of the 24-hour blocks of your life as brand-new bundles of one hundred, one dollar bills. Your challenge each day is to spend your life. You can’t bank any of it for the future. You can’t save up until you have $500 or $1000 in your account. No, you get a fresh handful of life currency every morning and any unspent balance evaporates before tomorrow comes. How will you spend it?

You spend life assets when you mentor a young person who is struggling, listen to a co-worker who is hurting, or volunteer to help someone who can give you nothing in return.

You spend life assets when you are generous with hard-earned money to help someone who has lost their job or a family that is being financially debilitated by long-term illness.

You spend life assets when you pray through your tears for a struggling child, or when you invest your time, energy, and passion into molding the life of your child for what lies before them in this challenging world.

You spend life assets when you put your love for family above career advancement that will demand too much time away from those who need you more than money or that calls you to compromise some central value you’ve embraced.

The Bible says, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us – and we ought to lay down our lives for one another” (1 JN 3:16).

Could it be that many would be willing to die in bold, heroic moments but don’t grasp that we must spend the smaller increments of our lives in unselfish, other focused events that honor God by serving those He has brought into our lives?

You have today’s capital in hand. Spend it wisely – in small increments that make a difference for both today and eternity.