It's no secret that our world has a huge problem. This reality is crippling and frightening for every conscious creature in existence. It's not the elephant in the room that I'm focusing on, but rather the grim reaper who's staring at all of us. Death is the surest event that will take place in every one of our lives. We all know this to be true, but for some reason some of us pretend like we're the chosen ones out of all the rest of humanity who've been selected to bypass death's embrace. There are many good reasons why a person would like to cast the thought of themselves dying far away from them, after all, who thinks sitting around pondering on their eventual demise is healthy? Anxiety, depression, deep sadness and more would be the fruit of doing such a thing. People would be paralyzed in the present if all they focused on was an uncertain and fearful future.
If all that is true, why then Does the prophet Moses ask God to " teach us to number our days that we might gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12-14)
If you read the entire Psalm, the major theme is comparing and contrasting the eternal and enduring nature of God, with the finite and frail nature of mankind. God is outside of time, space and matter being the creator of all three while human beings are creatures with limitations piling up to the sky. WE get sick, WE get fatigued, WE get hungry and thirsty, WE get old and eventually WE DIE. This truth moses says should help us to put our lives and the few days we have before us in perspective, knowing our limitations should make us wise. If i know my liver is compromised, it would lead me to making wise and healthy decisions and things like drinking alcohol would lose their attractiveness because my eyes would see differently due to a perspective change, my health would become paramount.
When it comes to death, the very fact that we know our loved ones, friends, coworkers, church members, neighbors are all headed for the grave, how should that affect how we treat them, especially as Christians who understand that life does not end when we stop breathing physically.
My father died recently at the age of fifty-nine and when I ponder on his life, I'm amazed at how short our lives really are.
We didn't have a great relationship, but not because there was any strife or animosity, but rather it was that we hardly had a relationship at all. For whatever reason he just decided to stay away when I was growing up. It wasn't until I was an adult that I began to ask why. My father worked a lot often two jobs just to get by and pay his child support for the four children he had. His life was toil and rest repeated. Although he never set me down and taught me life lessons, I learned to treasure time from looking at his life. I want my life to impact others! I want to use whatever time God has given me not to just exist and get by but to extract everything God has placed inside of me for the good of others around me. A wise man once said that " if your presence wasn't impactful your absence won't be missed"
I desire to live in such a way that I add purpose and value to everywhere I go. I desire to live my life like Jesus lived his. He only lived to about thirty-three years of age, but what he did with that time changed the world forever! He knew the time his father gave him on the earth was short, and with that understanding he lived accordingly...... I pray you and I do the same