I had in mind a different encouragement today than what I’m now going to share, but the Lord caused me to see and feel the urgency of this message yesterday.  You see, I had my night already planned out; I grabbed some dinner, I was going to go study for a while, and then go to the gym, only when I went to the place I was going to study, I found that it was temporarily closed.  No big deal, I could still get a good workout in.  After all, I had an entire pizza the night before, and I was sure that the entire thing had no nutritional value whatsoever.  After getting in my car to leave to, I pulled out into the street to go home, but got stuck at a stoplight.  Sitting at the stoplight I looked to my left and realized that there were people on their phones calling 911 for a guy that had just gotten in a motorcycle wreck.  He wasn’t wearing a helmet, and it was clear that he was hurt very badly – not 20 feet from where I was in my car, I and the others there helplessly watched as this man died.  Now, this story isn’t unique of course, this happens every day.  It happens to strangers, it happens to loved ones, and eventually our thoughts turn to the inevitability that one day, perhaps soon, it will happen to us.

There is a saying that there is no sure thing except for death and taxes.  Have you noticed that every year, we make plans about our taxes, but we never consider our own death?  There are tax planning services, but certainly there are no “death planning” offices open for business.  This is the very thing, however, that God says we ought to do.

Psalm 90:9-12 – “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.  The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.  Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you?  So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”

With so many options for planning – planning for a job, planning for taxes, planning for vacations, planning for families – God wants us to take time to plan our lives with a view of eternity.  What if you could know exactly when you were to die?  Let’s say it was 4 years from now.  How would you organize your life?  Since you cannot know that, let’s just saying that you live to be eighty years old.  If your years between now and then will be what you carry with you into eternity, if the next 80 billion years are determined based on your next eighty, how will you spend them?

Some of us go about our lives without this view.  We set our eyes towards temporary pleasures, monetary gain, or just living our lives apart from God.  We have time, right?  We can always turn back to God when we’re dying.  We may not have that chance.

James 4:13-15 – “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

Jesus also spoke of this.  You know, I think a lot of people want to think of Jesus as this warm and fuzzy Jesus, that prances around and sprinkles love dust everywhere he goes – but listen to his response to a group of people lamenting the loss of some of their loved ones.

Luke 13:1-5 “There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Jesus looks at these people and flatly tells them that, yes, these people have died, and they will too.  Can you imagine that kind of response to someone telling you about loved ones who had died?!  Jesus, the only One who ever knew the exact hour of his death, was immensely desirious that these people see that their life too is short, and that for them today is the day of salvation – what will they choose?  Repentance, turning from sin and turning to Christ, or to continue on living for themselves, knowing that the day is coming when they must give an account before God, and that day may be coming soon.

I know this isn’t a happy message, but each of us needs to look inwardly and ask ourselves, what if we died today – would we feel secure in our faith before God?  God did not create death, death is the consequence of sin, but God did give us eternal life in His son.  What we fear in death, is nothing compared to the loss we would experience without God for eternity.

How are you intentionally seeking the Lord and His will for your life?  What we can confidently say, grounded in God’s own Word and promises, is that everyone who loves God, who delights in Him, need not fear death – death will bring a fullness of joy in the presence of Christ.  But do you want Christ?  Do you love a God, who knowing your own sinfulness, would die in your place?  What depths of mercy and love await us in Christ; we can only hope and long for.  God is so much more than escape from death, escape from hell, He is a fullness of joy that words cannot describe.  None of us will live forever, and for some that is scary, but it doesn’t have to be.  Instead of living life for the next 80 years, start living life now for eternity.  Make each day, a step towards a God who loves you.

Grace and Peace,
Adam