Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - BREVITY

BREVITY

There are many passages in Scripture which emphasize the brevity of life. For example, Psalm 90 states that:

The days of our lives are seventy years; 

and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, 

Yet their boast is only labour and sorrow;

For it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 

(Psalm 90:10)

So teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom. 

(Psalm 90:12)

Similarly, Job and Samuel say:

Oh, remember that my life is a breath! 

(Job 7:7)

For we will surely die 

and become like water spilled on the ground, 

which cannot be gathered up again. 

(2 Samuel 14:14)

There are many other verses revealing just how short life is on this earth. Yet consider just how much effort we put into planning just what our life here might be like. If we consider the five years or so we live as children, then we spend, on average, between 18 and 23 years getting prepared for doing what will be our life work.That leaves about 55 years left, of which approximately one-third is spent in sleeping and eating, leaving, on average, 38 years to work, play, have a family and recreational time, and retire as we get older. Much of the time we do spend working seems to be to gain houses which are too big, cars that are too expensive, and toys which are rarely used. And often this is financed by debt which turns out to be too much for too long.

Is this really what life was meant to be? We spend all this time and effort for an existence which may last 70 or eighty years and then it’s over.

But what about eternity? If we really believe what the Bible tells us, then a long time awaits after we die here if we have the faith to believe it. But how much time do we take to prepare for eternal life? If we take about 20-25 years to prepare for a job that may last 30 years, do we do anything to prepare for what eternity may offer?

Life here may be just a breath but what comes after lasts much longer. And did not Solomon say after all he had done and accomplished in his life that:

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God, and keep His commandments:

for this is the whole duty of man. 

(Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV) 

For we are His workmanship, 

created in Christ Jesus for good works, 

which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 

(Ephesians 2:10)

It is really not possible to fear God and keep His commandments or to do good works if we are not prepared to know Him, His words, and at least do what is needed to prepare for eternity - just we tend to do for our life here on earth. And also, we never know when our time for eternity may come, for, as James states:

…you do not know what will happen tomorrow. 

For what is your life?

It is…a vapour that appears for a little time 

and then vanishes away. 

(James 4:14)

So, let us prepare for what is eventually coming. For any of us, it may be sooner than one may realize.  And it is truly something we all should all be thinking about.