JDL - Direction Seven - Life - A Breath Away

And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ (Luke 12:19-20 (ESV))

One question we might ask is, why the anxiousness about this? Why not live my life as I want, then later I will concern myself with my spiritual life? Perhaps the best answer to that question is that we need to be concerned now because we do not know how long we have on this earth.

Comedian Steven Wright suggested that he knew how long he would live because his birth certificate had an expiration date on it. I doubt if that is true, and I do not believe any of us knows when our last hour will be.

Many times as a person gets older, they will make a habit of reading the obituary in the newspaper. Maybe they think if their name is not there then, it is okay to get up and start the day. Perhaps it is rather that, as they grow older, they know that they and their friends have less time to spend on this earth, and so they are looking to see if anyone they know has passed away. One thing is for certain, as one looks at the obituaries, one will find that death does not discriminate. People of all ages, cultures, creeds, colors, nationality, ethnicities, economic and socioeconomic backgrounds, and any other category die. Rich or poor, educated or uneducated, young and old, red and yellow, black and white, brown and grey, tall and short, blonde or red head, brown or blue eyes, none of this matters, all people die.

And no one knows that day, nor the hour, nor the moment of one’s death. We are all really and truly one breath, one heart beat away from death. There is a certainty to death, but there is not a certainty to the time of one’s death. The medical profession may have helped us to push back the time of death, but it has not taken away the inevitability of death.

Maybe you have heard stories of someone having had a terrible accident, spending months and even years in the hospital and in rehabilitation only to walk out of the hospital and be hit and killed by a car. Babies die. Some children die even before they are born when they are ripped out of their mother’s womb by abortion. At times a woman’s body will spontaneously miscarry the baby for reasons no one may ever know. Children die at one year of age, and some live to be two or three. And then there is the rare exception of someone living to be over a hundred years old.

The point is, we do not know how long we have in this world, so it is important that we make good use of the time that we have to make sure we have ourselves ready for the world to come. And contrary to new theologies, there are no second chances. Our time on this earth will end, either at our own physical death or, if the Lord so chooses, at His second coming, which ever comes first. Either way, we will stand before our Lord and be judged according to the faith which He has implanted into our hearts (or that we have rejected and refused).

But just so we make sure we understand the immediacy of all this, let us make a time comparison. Our life in this world (on this earth) may last anywhere from conception to just over a hundred years. And certainly, while we are living on this earth that might seem like a long time, but the comparison we must make is to eternity. Eternity is millions of billions of zillions of eons, and that is just the beginning of eternity. Or as someone suggested, eternity really has no beginning; for to say it has a beginning is to imply that it has an end. So, what is a hundred years compared to millions of billions of zillions of eons? There really is no comparison which reminds us of the importance of always being ready to meet our Maker.

And we are ready as He gives us faith, strengthens, and keeps us in faith through the means He has given us, His means of grace, the Bible, confession and absolution, Holy Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. What better way to make sure we are ready than to make regular and diligent use of these means He gives to us and to be directed by Him through these means.

Think About
Take the time to read through the obituary section of the newspaper, or online, and you will notice that death is no respecter of people, of age, of cultures and the like, then consider your own age and think about that in comparison to eternity. Finally, think about whether or not you are ready to meet your Maker.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You for the gift of life and new life. Forgive me for all the time I unnecessarily waste in failing to make sure of the one thing needful, my relationship with You. Get me ready, Lord, through Your means of grace, to meet You, anytime and any place. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.