“The greatest loss of life is the loss of human potential.”

“The greatest loss of life is the loss of human potential.”

I recently attended the Memorial service for a dear brother in the Lord, Richard L. Luebke, Sr. His son, Dick, Jr. is my connection to the family and a dear friend. It was a wonderful service. One statement attributed to his father struck me then and has continued to impress me since that late Saturday morning of November 21st.

Richard, Sr. had said before he passed away, “The greatest loss of life is the loss of human potential.” That insight is profound. Because God, in His sovereignty created each of us to magnify Him in all ways. We do that by marshaling the gifts that He has bestowed upon us for the betterment of everyone else; sacrificially often, with each opportunity to serve making more and more use of the potential God placed in us. Such was the legacy of Dick’s father.

And his legacy continues for each of us as we grasp and hold that truth – as we serve others, as we exemplify God’s own Son’s character in our own lives, as we treat others with respect, love and charity for God’s glory.

Dick, Jr. was fortunate to be raised by such a man, not a perfect man, but wise in his understanding of what is truly important. The most important perhaps.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life…whoever lives by [this] truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what He has done has been done through God.” John 3:16, 21 NIV

How sweet ‘potential’.