“Lord, make me know my end,
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.
Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.”
Psalm 39:4-5 (NASB)
We live under the illusion that we have much time.
This past Sunday, I traveled to Chicago to do the memorial service for a former neighbor. Marilyn was the wife of a man I had the privilege of leading to faith in Christ some years ago. Her daughter and son invited me to come because I had done the funeral for their step-father and now it seemed appropriate to do the memorial for their mother. So, six months after her death, due to COVID, I had the opportunity to remember a life of a friend and neighbor. Marilyn, in her 78 years, had marked people with her gift of hospitality. Testimony after testimony gave evidence of a life spent bringing people together.
I reminded the 85 people at the memorial service that all of us have a limited time. None of us know when our ticket will be punched. But every day we move closer to it. Sand moves through the hourglass of our lives and our date with destiny moves closer. One day, all of us will meet God face to face and give an account of our lives (Matthew 12:36; Romans 14:12). And one thing will matter. “What did we do with the message of the gospel? What did we do with the call to repent and believe the good news of God coming to earth, dying for sin, rising from the dead and promising forgiveness to all who believed in Him and took up their cross to follow Him?” (Mark 1:14-15; Acts 3:19; 17:30-31; Hebrews 2:1-3; Luke 9:23).
My prayer for all of you reading these words is that David’s words in Psalm 39 would remind you that life is short, eternity is long, and now is the day to respond to the gospel. They, David’s words, headed this post. Read them again.
“Lord, make me know my end,
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how transient I am.
Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadths,
And my lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah.”
Psalm 39:4-5 (NASB)
Read them and be sobered by them and make up your mind to follow Jesus with every breath you take. To do otherwise is to live under the illusion that we have much time.
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