We Don’t Have Long!

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 21, number 1, January 6, 2022

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away, James 4:14.

Some mornings you wake up to a heavy fog which makes the drive to work problematic and sometimes results in automobile accidents. However by 9 or 10 a.m. the fog has lifted and you enjoy a beautiful day. James the apostle is urging that we not be presumptive. That is, we should never be like the man who says he is going to a particular city, spend a year there working, and make big money. James says that we have no idea what our lives will be like tomorrow. We have no control over that. He goes further to say that our lives are like a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away very quickly. The Bible has a lot to say about time. We are not to waste it. The Psalmist asks Yahweh to teach him to number his days that he might, in turn, present to God a heart of wisdom (Ps.90:12). Paul the apostle tells us to be careful how we walk, how we live, not as unwise men who squander away their days, to make the most of every day because the days in which we live are evil (Eph.5:15,16). Jesus told His disciples that we must work the works of the Father as long as daylight exists because a day is coming when no man can work (Jn.9:4). Jesus is clearly making an allusion to the farmer who can only ply his trade in the daylight. A farmer who has a planting or harvesting deadline is never wasting time. A farmer does not allow cut hay to lie in the field for long. He harvests his apples at the proper time.  He plants his crops at the right time. He stays on task.

I turn seventy years old in March, 2022 and I have recently been thinking about the brevity of life. My oldest son’s wedding was twenty years ago. My youngest son graduated from high school twenty years ago. We moved to St. Simons Island, Georgia nearly thirty years ago. Wini and I moved back to Birmingham, our home town, ten years ago. All of these events seem like they happened last week. If you are getting up in years like me then I am sure you are feeling the same thing, asking the question, “Where has all the time gone?” How have the years passed so quickly?” Life is but a vapor.

Twenty years ago seems like yesterday. Now obviously only God knows when I will leave this world for heaven. It could be this week. It could be in five or ten years, maybe twenty years. But the end is on the horizon. And then there is the question of how long I will be healthy enough to engage in ministry. I feel great. I still have my mind, as far as I can tell. LOL. But the door for effective ministry is closing. Think of it like this, if you live to be eighty then you will live approximately 29,200 days. If you are fifty, then that means you have about 11,000 more days on this earth. If you are sixty, then you have about 7300 days left. And if you are seventy, like me, we have only 3650 days left. My friend Tim Hanley daily counts the days he has left on earth, using a formula similar to this one. Pretty sobering, isn’t it?

If we must reduce the commands of God for His people down to just a few, they would come to this, “We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, we are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and we are to make disciples of all the nations (Mt.22:37-39, 28:18-20). That’s it, period. End of story. Now this does not mean that we cannot rest, cannot work out, cannot take a vacation, cannot slow down a bit as we get older, cannot enjoy hobbies, cannot spend time with our children and grandchildren, cannot follow our favorite football team. But it does mean that whatever we do in work, ministry, leisure, family, or hobbies loving God, loving people, and making disciples must be clearly present. We are created for good works which God prepared beforehand that we walk in them (Eph.2:10).

So, what does this mean practically as we begin another year which brings us closer to our homegoing in heaven? Spend time in each of the days you have left growing in and developing your love for God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Meet with God daily. Those of you with children at home are surely struggling to find time for God but make whatever changes you need to carve out fifteen to thirty minutes a day worshipping God, reading His word, and promising to obey what you read that day. If your children have left home or if you are retired, then you have plenty of time for God. You need it. Don’t squander it. 

As you grow in your love for God then you will automatically love people more. Ask God to give you opportunities each day to serve others. Look outside your family. People are hurting everywhere. Get your hands dirty. Give some of your time to help out with a ministry like Grace Klein, the Lovelady Center, or Wellhouse.   

And then purpose to make disciples. You can do this in several ways. Here’s one example. Find a few younger believers with whom you can purposely and regularly meet and teach them the basics of walking with Christ. But go further. MAWL them. What’s that? M—model the Christian life for them. Spend time with them, allowing them to watch how you live, how you live with your spouse and children, how you handle adversity, how to teach the Bible and how to evangelize. A—attention. Give them some personal time, showing them how to have a devotional time, how to read and study the Bible, how to engage someone with the gospel. W—watch. Put them into situations where they need to lead a small group Bible study. Take them with you in street evangelism and allow them the opportunity to practice evangelizing and then them give constructive criticism and feedback. And then, after a period of time when you think they have down the basics, L—launch. Send them out on their own to do what you have taught them. We are never to sit, soak, and sour in a Bible study for several years. We are to obey God’s word which tells us very clearly to disciple the nations. More directly, we are to multiply disciples (2 Tim.2:2). 

How many days do you have left on earth? Only God knows. Let’s purpose to make the best of them while we are still here. Let’s begin 2022 buying up the days we have left. Don’t squander your time.              
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 >gracekleincommunity.com>  Grace Klein does a wonderful job distributing good food to people in need in the metro Birmingham area.  <loveladycenter.org> The Lovelady Center houses around four hundred women who are recovering from various addictions and abuse. <wellhouse.com> And Wellhouse is a ministry to women who are victims of sex trafficking. I  am sure your own city has similar ministries which could use your help.