Living

Yesterday I learned that Oswald Chambers, author of the classic devotional writings, My Utmost for His Highest, died when he was my age.

Yesterday I met a young friend in her 20s at Target, and she is suffering from chronic illness.  Now she has new, severe physical ailments, and she spent the afternoon having diagnostic testing.  She gave me a weak smile and wished me a nice day as she left the store.  I hardly knew what to say in return.

Yesterday I watched live footage of the Boston attack.

This is the truth:  We don’t live forever on this earth.

“It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.”  (Ecclesiastes 7:2  NIV)

I am a church pianist and a pastor’s wife, so you would not believe how many funerals I have been to in my life.  I have come to treasure them, not for the grief they bring but for the reminder that the length of my life is limited.  Whether ended by old age or sickness or cruelty, my life will end.  Then I will stand in front of Christ.

Christ followers think soberly about the reality of death, do we not?

“What is your life, you are but a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”  (James 4:14  NIV)

So I pray for my sick friend and for the traumatized people in Boston, and I will take to heart that I do not know how long God has given me for living.

What we know about our future determines how we will act today.

Do you have five minutes to watch this video about your future?