Your Life is Temporary

 


What is Your Life, Part 4

 

Introduction

Remember during the cold, winter weather, you used to go outside and exhale just to see your breath? As children, it was always neat to see your own breath as it left your mouth. However, that breath is visible for only a brief moment, and then it disappears. Our life is quite similar to that image.

James writes, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15)

This is a constant reminder that we only have a short time here on earth. Whether we live for 85 years or, even, 969 years, like Methuselah, it is still temporary.

 

The Magic Number

I’ve posted this at least twice before, in other articles, but I can’t stress this point enough. All too often we don’t think of life in terms of minutes but rather days, weeks, months, and years.

Although none of us knows how long we will live here upon the Earth, we do know that everyone, from age 8 to 80, has the same amount of time. By that, I mean the same amount of time every single day. We all have 24 hours or 1,440 minutes to accomplish whatever it is we need to do. That is the key number to our lives; 1440.

If an average person works 8 hours a day and sleeps 8 hours a day; that comes to 960 minutes already used up. That leaves you 480 minutes per day to do everything else: Eating meals, spending time with family, studying the bible, attending worship, and social interaction.

 

One Day at a Time

Telling people to take life one day at a time sounds like a cliché. But, when you understand the reality of scripture, and what the afterlife entails, you’ll better appreciate each day more and more.

On March 28th, 2010 my family and I attended WrestleMania 26 held, that year, in Glendale, Arizona. The previous November was when tickets first went on sale. As part of the festivities, they had merchandise, video packages being aired, and two WWE Superstars signing autographs.

As a Christian, I knew that even though we were getting tickets for an event that took place five months later, I couldn’t get excited about it until the event got closer. I was living my life one day at a time.

Call me a “Danny Downer” if you want but, in my mind, I knew a lot of things could happen between November and March that could change everything. I could have lost my job, my wife could have ended up in a car accident, the kids being injured at school, etc. It’s not wrong to plan things that far in advance, some things we have to, but it’s wrong to simply assume that you will still be able to attend that event as you were when it was first announced.

 

Are You Prepared?

Last year we looked at the subject of The Afterlife and where people will end up for eternity. Have you done what needs to be accomplished to know exactly where you will arrive on the Day of Judgment?

If you haven’t read the article, What Must I do to be Saved? I urge you to read it. The apostle Paul writes, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences (2 Corinthians 5:10-11). Notice in verse 11, he writes, ‘we persuade men’. That shows how important it is to become a Christian.

Remember when Paul stood before King Agrippa? “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.” Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” And Paul said, “I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains.” (Acts 26:27-29)

Even though Agrippa was a believer, he wasn’t a Christian. And that is one of the biggest shocks that people will realize when they come before Jesus and be sentenced to an eternity in Hell. They assume belief (or Faith) is enough; they weren’t obedient to The Father (Mt. 7:21-23).


Conclusion

Although we might live to be 100 years old, it is still a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things here on Earth. Use your time wisely while you still have breath left in your body.

Here are the basic things you need to do to become a Christian:

Hear the Word of God (Rom. 10:17)

Believe Jesus is the Son of God (John 8:24)

Confess Jesus is the Son of God (Rom. 10:9-10)

Repent of your sins (Acts 2:38)

Become baptized to wash away your sins (Acts 22:16)

Live Faithfully even unto Death (Rev. 2:10)

Don’t put off for tomorrow what you can do today. If you need any help, please comment below.



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