If you have ever had the opportunity to spend some time in an old age home or a palliative care ward it quickly becomes apparent that the human body is frail, fragile and finite. Whether you once owned businesses, were wealthy in assets, were esteemed intellectuals or worked for a wage does not matter when the extent of your world is a tiny room with a few pictures of family on the wall.
Materialism means nothing to the elderly man or woman in palliative care or with dementia. At any given time, there are countless people lying on their deathbeds, and not one of them can add a single day to their own lives. History has shown that most people will be forgotten a couple of short generations after they are gone. Their time on earth will be marked by no more than a headstone in a cemetery, visited by a few family members or friends for a while, and then eventually left to the elements to weather and fade.
The Bible says, “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” (Psalm 103:15-16). The late Billy Graham once said that the one thing that surprised him about life was the brevity of it. A human lifespan is nothing more than a drop in an ocean of eternity.
The Psalmist wrote, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is.” (Psalm 39:4). Yet today’s society is so focused upon the here and now, that few people contemplate their eternal destiny. Charles Spurgeon is quoted as saying, “Great numbers of persons have no concern about eternal things. They care more about their cats and dogs than about their souls.”
And the apostle James wrote, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money,’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-14).
Living For The Moment Is Foolish
Many people live with astonishing recklessness regarding their lives. They abuse alcohol, drugs and their own bodies as if life had no end. They indulge in carnal pleasures, pursue materialism, adhere to relativism and deny the existence of truth and the God who holds their very souls in the palm of His hands. This temporal logic is self defeating and leads to the ultimate destruction of mind, body and soul.
If we examine the word temporal it is defined as relating to worldly (secular) as opposed to spiritual affairs. It can also be used to denote time. It is derived from the Latin word temporalis which means “of time” and is often used in connection with temporary and physical things as opposed to eternal or spiritual matters. The word itself connotes brevity and a lack of permanence.
It is therefore wise to pursue lasting treasures rather than ephemeral rewards. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21).
It has been said that those who live to become wealthy in this life but do not prepare for the afterlife are wise for a day and fools for eternity. Even more sobering is the fact that all of us are but one misfortune away from the end of our earthly experience. And then there’s the terrible tragedy of wasted lives at the hands of alcohol or drugs. The affliction of addiction that ruins families, careers and health, can result in suicide or a shortened lifespan from overtaxed body parts meant for wholesome purposes.
The vast majority of people go through life without a care of just how brief life is. They live lives to satisfy their own desires without giving a thought to those who went before them, those less fortunate and the eternity that awaits them.
Society today is preoccupied with celebrities, wealth and self gratification. Many people regularly buy lottery tickets with the hope they will win and be rich beyond their wildest dreams. Their dreams constitute their treasures and are where their hearts truly reside.
Our Mortality Is Reality
The finitude of life is a reality that many people would rather not confront even though it is the one thing all people have in common. The writer of Hebrews 9:27 informs us, “Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgement.” It is therefore incumbent upon each of us to come to terms with how we feel about death and what we believe about life after death, unless we live in profound apathy. The Bible reveals to us that we can have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ.
In the fourteenth chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus is recorded as saying, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my father’s house there are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3).
Despite the challenges we may face in our present lives, Jesus provides hope for us. In Matthew 10:28-31 He gives us this advice: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
This hope transcends our mortality, it overwhelms our apprehension and promises life beyond the grave. Paul reassures us in Romans 6:8-9, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him.”
Paul further elaborates on the concept of how believers will be raised to life after death in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23. “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when He comes, those who belong to Him.”
Although life is brief, it is also valuable. So valuable that God sent His one and only Son to lay his own life down for us as an atonement for our sins. So valuable that as Paul wrote in Romans 5:10, “For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life!”
God values us. So much so that He would rather allow us to experience sin and the pain it causes and then redeem us when we ask, than to force us to go through life completely innocent, naïve and without an appreciation for His love for us. So much so that He only offers salvation. He doesn’t force it upon us. If we choose not to accept eternal life in heaven, where there is no sin, no death, no mourning, no tears, no pain and no evil – He doesn’t pressure us or coerce us to take Him up on His offer. God only wants us to spend eternity with Him in His kingdom if we want to be there.
For those who place their faith in Jesus Christ there is complete forgiveness without condemnation (Romans 8:1-2). I again reference Psalm 103, where David wrote, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will He harbor His anger forever; He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:8-12).
We have a brief window in time with which to ascertain the truth of God and His salvation. We have one chance to experience life. Only one. Jesus came so that we could have a full and abundant life so we ought not waste it (John 10:10). We have been provided with a unique opportunity to live a God centered, gospel saturated life that has eternal significance. Proverbs 5:9 wisely states, “You don’t want to waste your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted.”
Make the most of what time you have. And when you discover the truth of salvation, seize it and cherish it more than anything else (Matthew 13:44-46).
