Are We Ready?

Most products we buy have an expiration date, and these dates are important to know, like when we’re buying milk, or better yet when we’re getting ready to drink it. When we buy a car we also know its expiration date. It’s when it quits running and the warranty runs out.

Well there’s another expiration date that most of us don’t like to think about, it’s our lives.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a)

There’s an expiration date on our lives, and no one knows the day or the hour when we will expire. No one knows how long he or she has to live. One moment we’re here, the next moment we’re not.

The question becomes, how are we to live given the time God has so graciously given to us?
This was King David’s question.

“Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.” (Psalm 39:4-5)

Despite his riches and power, King David realized his own mortality and how short life truly is, “a mere handbreadth,” that is, life is only one breath away from being extinguished. He also realized no matter how much he gained; it would end up being someone else’s (Psalm 39:6).

Our life on this earth is short, so we better make the most of it. What are we to accomplish? Whatever that may be, let it be kingdom of God oriented because that’s what’s going to last once this life is over.

Jesus said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” (Matthew 6:19-20a)