Time is Short

I’m grateful to God for all He has done to unfold my life with such care, attention, discipline, adventure, and love. I turned 35 this week and I’m aware that I’ve now spent more time on Earth than Jesus did during His incarnation. That’s quite a thought, that all the richness of my Saviour’s life and ministry was completed in so short a span of time.

As Solomon says in the book of Ecclesiastes:

Life is fleeting, like a passing mist.

It is like trying to catch hold of a breath;

All vanishes like a vapor; everything is great vanity.

Our stay on Earth is brief. Do we really have time to delay focusing on our spiritual situation? If we are aware that there is an afterlife, shouldn’t we be compelled to seek after truth wherever it may be found, even if it means making a concerted effort to prioritise matters of faith in the midst of our busy schedules?

Jesus is calling to us from the pages of Scripture, giving us tender promises, telling us that He will carry our burdens. And if we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead and that Jesus is Lord, we can receive the most precious gifts this mortal life has to offer; the forgiveness of our sins and the hope of eternal life.

Friends, I don’t know how long the Lord will extend my days, but that is not something I worry about. Whether I live a long time or just a little more is a matter of little consequence, so long as I am accepted by God and in right relationship with Him. Having repented and received the precious Christian gifts of baptism in water and the Holy Spirit, I feel (in my more confident moments) that I am forgiven and accepted by God.

Admittedly, I do fear God and the day of judgment, for God is awesome in power and I am still sometimes haunted by my past sin. But I hold fast to the promise of Romans 8, “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

Spurred on by such a hope, I can thank God in faith for the salvation He has promised, and sing with delight the words of the classic gospel song, ‘Angel Band’:

My latest sun is sinking fast, 

My race is nearly run

My strongest trials now are past, 

My triumph has begun

Oh, come angel band 

Come and around me stand

Oh, bear me away on your snow white wings 

To my immortal home

Oh, bear my longing heart to him 

Who bled and died for me

Whose blood now cleanses from all sin 

And gives me victory

Jesus is simply too important not to be taken seriously, so wherever you are at in your spiritual journey, get to know the Son of God while you still have time.