I heard someone say today about whether to shelter in the basement during a potential tornado warning when some people may not be able to navigate the stairs, “We’re living and they’re dying.” Ouch, that hurt my heart.
Recently, I also saw someone speak about their cancer diagnosis as being terminal, with an “expiration date” set by doctors. Ouch again.
It has made me ponder the impermanence of our lives on earth, and also what Jesus would say about how much or how little we value each day that we have breath in our lungs.
In Luke 9:23-24, it says… Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.”
Only God knows our lifespans and is able to see our entire life from conception to death and beyond, so it serves us well to follow him first rather than lose our days to our own short-sighted decision making.
As it says in Job 14:5, A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
Do we spend each moment as if we are living? Or do we spend each moment as if we are dying? Personally, I think that when we look at life from the standpoint that we are dying, we are more able to focus our limited time and energy on the things that are most important.
As you pick up your cross today (whatever you are given by God to carry in this season of your life), and trust your life to the One who sacrificed his all for you. LIVE LIFE LIKE YOU’RE DYING. As you live with purpose, feel your burdens lift as the things that don’t really matter fall away… things like taking offense, acquiring stuff, holding a grudge, and gaining accolades from people.
If you knew that you only had 48 hours to live, how would you choose to live your last days? Since we don’t know if we have more than 48 hours, why not choose to follow Jesus’s way? It’s the most important decision you could ever make, and the ramifications have an eternal impact.