Scripture: For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him." Psalm 49:17
Observation: "Our world population is now over five billion. The United Nations has estimated that about 11 percent of the population dies each year, so that means more than fifty million people will die this year. Today alone over 130 thousand people will go to either heaven or hell. Tomorrow another 130 thousand will follow. For the most part people seem unconcerned and uninterested in such a reality. But there is in the heart of every individual a sense of the impending reality of death." John MacArthur
Application: This is an all together depressing way to start the day. 130 thousand people will breathe their last breath today. Their eternity will be eternally set. They will be taken before God and their life will be examined.
The same is true for me. One day I will be one of the 130 thousand. One day I too will breathe my last. When I do, nothing of this earth will go with me. It all stays behind. This fact is really getting to me this morning. Why do I worry with so much that I worry about? Money. Bills. Vacations. Hobbies. None of it has the power to last. None of it the power to save. In the end, it is all useless. So what do I do with this unpleasant reality? It is a question that has haunted man ever since Adam first sinned.
As I observe the world around me I see a few ways that I could react to this. I can get depressed and remove meaning from all of life. It is easy to do this. I saw a bumper sticker one time that said, "Life sucks then you die." I can feel that way on certain days. Death, tension, broken relationships and an overall sense of lacking can suck the life straight out of me. As this happens, I can get really frustrated. Under the rising pressure felt from the frustration I sometimes feel like I just want to snap. Give up. Say the heck with it. Let's just eat, drink, and be merry and wait for the inevitable to happen. I have done this many times and the result has never been very effective.
The other side of the coin is that I can follow Paul's advice from 1 Corinthians 16. He encourages us to "be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love." Alert. Firm. Mature. Strong. Loving. Of all that I can pursue in this life, these are the only things that can last from this life to the next. They are the only things that matter.
Prayer: I want to be alert. The monotony of life really works like a sedative to my senses. Once I fall into the hands of this powerful drug, I just go through life; surviving day by day. Break that bond today. Let me be alert to You and Your work around me. Keep me on my toes. Fill my heart with the excitement that results when You invite me into Your daily agenda. Keep me firm in the faith. This life is not all that there is. Death is not final. You have designed a place of beauty and rest for those who are in You. I do not think about Heaven as often as I should. Help this become a reality to me. Let me be mature. As I study Your Word help me to grow in wisdom. Move me past the immature behaviors that drag me down. Along with this create inside of me a strength to accompany my maturity. I want to be a source of life to those around me. Above all, help me be loving today. Whatever I do I want to approach it from Your deep love for me and the others of this world. 130 thousand people will fall today. Let my heart be bent towards love for the 130 thousand that will die tomorrow. I can do nothing for the ones who died yesterday. Really can’t do much for the ones who will die today. But there is time to reach the ones who will die tomorrow.
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