The Long Run

I heard of a girl, a friend of a friend; at 19 years old, she had a brain aneurysm and died suddenly.  I don't know the specifics of her situation; I never even met her, but I know that her death was unexpected.

“My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.  Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again.  The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more.  As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so one who goes down to the grave does not return.  He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.”
Job 7:6-10

Job seems a bit more hopeless than even I am, but I am just as certain of how short life is and how suddenly it can end.  A sudden illness, a car accident, a random crime or any of a thousand other things could end your life in a heartbeat.  Without belaboring the point, even if you live to a good, old age; even if you live over 900 years, as the Bible says Methuselah did, death is coming.  Even if you live to see the return of Christ, and you don't truly experience death, your existence will be dramatically changed in a way every bit as transformational as death.

With this in mind, how can we respond?  Death is certain; if we choose to fix our eyes on this fact, our lives will begin to reflect our focus.  Every action we take will be tinged by this awareness.  We will likely do one of two things: we will live for the short-lived joys this life can offer or work as hard as we can to delay the inevitable as long as possible.  Living a life focused on the joys of this life doesn't necessarily mean we will become hedonists, living simply for our own pleasure, we aren't animals after all; we might choose to live lives focused on helping others and derive pleasure that way.  In the end, though, both paths lead to an ultimately unfulfilling result.

There is however an alternative.

If we choose to accept that this life is a temporary situation and look forward to what comes beyond this life, we can truly make our life on this earth meaningful.  While death may be coming for you and every other human on earth, if you are a Christian, you have hope; you believe that there is a place prepared for you when this life ends.  Your mission on this earth should be to spread the good news of the hope we have in Christ.  If you truly want to live a life of worth, with a result that is as fulfilling as possible, this is the path you must choose.

“If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua 24:15