Passages: Colossians 3, Psalm 19
As we grow older, time seems to move faster. Childhood birthdays that took forever to come around now seem to arrive a little too close together.
We used to think that we have forever… that we would eventually be able to get around to doing everything we aspire to do before we die… whenever that is. It's this youthful mindset that causes many of us to chase after things that bring immediate gratification and joy. Whether it is material wealth, relationships, power and prestige, or education, we have all focused on something “earthly” at one point at another.
Yet when we look at the grander scale of things, at life as a whole, we will find ourselves sobered. The brevity of life is real… whether we live to be 18 or 80. It's a reality.
The task we have is to keep this reality in the forefront as we make our daily life choices and decisions. Before we act, we have to ask ourselves, “Will this choice matter just for today, or forever? Will this decision matter just to me, or to someone else (or everyone else)?”
Paul wrote about it in Colossians 3:2: “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
James wrote about it in James 4:14: “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.”
David wrote about it in Psalm 39:4–5: “Show me, O LORD, my life's end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath.”
How will you make the most of the days you have on Earth?
