No Reserves, No Retreats

King Tut was buried with more than 5,000 treasures, convinced he’d need them for the journey to paradise. That image is stunning, but it also raises a blunt question: when our time runs out, what actually lasts? Today’s five-minute start uses Tut’s tomb as a mirror, not a history lesson, and it quickly turns into a challenge about priorities, generosity, and the kind of story our lives tell. 
We then introduce William Borden, a young heir with every reason to chase comfort and prestige, who instead wrote “No Reserves” in the back of his Bible and lived like he meant it. At Yale he helped spark massive morning Bible studies, served people on the margins, and turned down high-paying jobs to pursue missionary work. He added two more words, “No Retreats,” set out to reach Chinese Muslims, studied Arabic in Egypt, and died of spinal meningitis at only 25. The papers said a wave of sorrow went around the world because people could see he didn’t just give money away, he gave himself away. 

We close by asking which life makes the bigger difference now and for eternity, and we anchor the takeaway in 1 Peter 4:10: each of us has received a gift meant to serve others. If you’re thinking about Christian faith, stewardship, purpose, and what it means to live open-handed, press play and let this reset your morning. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review telling us what you want to “pour out” this week.

Transcript

King Tut And The Afterlife Journey

William Borden’s No-Compromise Faith

Two Legacies And A Hard Question

A Gift Meant To Be Poured Out

Closing And Daily Invitation

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mack. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five-minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and let me help you start your day right. I recently read an article about King Tut, and I found it quite fascinating. It seems that he was one of the youngest pharaohs. He was between the ages of 17 and 19 when he passed away. There's some discussion as to what actually killed King Tut, whether it was murder or an infection from a broken bone or malaria. There's different stories out there, but somehow he passed before he reached the age of twenty. The Egyptians believed that when someone passed away from this earth, they entered a place called the Field of Reeds, which was a paradise-like afterlife. But there was a journey that they had to take to get there. So all the incredible items that were found in King Tut's tomb were meant to accompany him on that trip, and also to make that trip a little bit easier as he progressed into the afterlife, into paradise. The list of those items is absolutely astounding, and there's too many of them for me to tell you about here. But we all know that there was a sarcophagus that was made of gold, and there were many other items made of gold. There were weapons, there were statues of servants, there were chairs, there was jewelry, there were statues of other gods. On and on and on the list went. When they finally added it all up and counted them all out, there were more than five thousand items in King Tut's tomb. All of this treasure had laid hidden in the Egyptian sand for more than three thousand years, until in 1922 it was discovered by Howard Carter. We'll come back to King Tut in just a minute. But first of all, I want to talk about another man by the name of William Borden. William Borden was born in 1887 to a very wealthy family. His family were all Christians, and he grew up knowing the Bible and knowing the importance of having the reality of God in your life. And after he graduated from Chicago High School, he wrote down that his number one desire was to become a missionary. His friends who graduated with him thought he was crazy, but no, Bill was not crazy. And in the back of his Bible he wrote down these words No reserves. In other words, he wasn't going to hold anything back. After high school, he went to Yale University, where within three years he had developed a morning Bible study with over a thousand of the students who were attending the university. And at that point in time there were only thirteen hundred who were there, but a thousand of them were attending morning Bible studies that had been started by Borden. But his ministry wasn't limited just to the campus. He also reached out in the community. One of his friends said that he might often be found in the lower parts of the city at night, on the street in a cheap lodging house, or some restaurant to which he had taken a poor hungry fellow to feed him. He was always seeking to lead men to Christ. Upon graduating from Yale, Borden turned down some very high paying jobs. And then it's been reported that Bill Borden wrote two more words in the back of his Bible, right below where it said no reserves. He wrote the words no retreats. Upon graduation, he sailed for China because he hoped to reach the Chinese Muslims with the gospel of Christ. He went first to Egypt to study Arabic, and while there he contracted spinal meningitis, and within a month, 25-year-old William Borden died. When the news of his death was cabled back to the US, the story was carried by nearly every American newspaper, stating a wave of sorrow has gone around the world. Borden not only gave away his wealth, but himself, in a way so joyous and natural that it seemed a privilege rather than a sacrifice. Here we have a comparison of two young men who were both born with tremendous wealth and privilege. And they both died young. The difference was that King Tut tried to take it with him. And Bill Borden spent his life making sure that he could give away as much as possible before he died. Now, whose life made the biggest difference for people in this world and for all eternity to come? Which one of those two young men was most important? Of course we know it was Bill Borden, because he allowed God to use him, and he recognized that as long as he was doing what God wanted him to do, he didn't need the wealth, he didn't need the prestige, he didn't need any of those other things. In fact, he did his very best to give all of that away to meet the needs of people and to proclaim the gospel of Christ. King Tut thought by taking everything with him he could gain access to paradise. But William Borden knew the exact opposite. The way to gain access to paradise is to commit your life to Christ, then use what you have to benefit the people around you. First Peter chapter four, verse ten says this Each of you has received a gift to use to serve others. Be good servants of God's various gifts of grace. In other words, God says to us, God's placed within us something that we need to pour out of us. And we need to remember that the only thing that we will take with us when we leave this world is how we pour what we have and what we are and the truth of what God's given us into the lives of the people around us. That is everlasting, and that makes a difference. Have a great day, my friends. We will talk again tomorrow. Thank you for joining us today, and I invite you to join us every Monday to Friday right here at Starting Right with Danny Mack.