Life is Precious and Precarious
What a week. I’ve been reminded with three unrelated people who are close to our family that life is precious, and it is also precarious.
It’s harder to remember that in modern America. We have had the best health care system in the world since sin began. I know some are convinced that we have major nutrition issues in our culture (and there are no doubt problems with chemicals, trans-fats, etc.) but life expectancy and overall health in modern times has never before approached what we take for granted today. Workplace regulations, improved transportation systems and vehicle safety, along with better rounded diets and a medical system that today routinely treats and cures injuries, diseases and conditions that took our ancestors’ lives by the millions just a generation ago, we live longer and healthier lives than ever before.
But for every one of us, it will still all come to an end some day. And it will be a surprise.
My daughter-in-law’s father is just two years older than me. Saturday he was snowboarding and oblivious to any health concerns. Tomorrow he is having emergency brain surgery to remove a rapidly growing brain tumor.
Yesterday we learned that one of Erica’s closest friends was admitted to intensive care for a perplexing condition. It was so serious that we were not sure if she would make it through the night. As I am writing this, she is still hanging on by prayer.
This morning, we learned that another close friend of the family was found unconscious. She is also in the hospital and her prognosis is still unclear.
Life is precious, and despite our improved safety standards, nutrition, and health care, it is still precarious!
And that’s why the song, “Live Like You Are Dying” is so powerful. Because we all are. We are all dying. Are you living like it? And what does that mean?
First, I think it has to mean being prepared for death. That’s what the Gospel message is all about, the good news that Jesus has taken care of the problem of death in his death and resurrection. That’s why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 – “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
But it also means living our lives in light of eternity, recognizing that everything in this life either affects eternity in a good way, or it is a waste. And I don’t know about you, but I am not interested in wasting this one earthly life that I have. In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul compared our lives to building material. He said that when we do things for God and for others, it is like building with material that improves when heated. But when we do things out of selfishness, it is like building with wood, hay or straw. He said going though death is like our lives passing through a furnace. The selfish actions will all be burned away and we will have nothing to show for it or to bring into the next. Our acts of service toward God and for others will only be purified in the furnace, and will be there as reward for us for all eternity.
Life is precious, you only get this one. And life is precarious, you never know when it will end. Are you prepared for this one life to end? And are you using this one life to prepare for eternity? Because it is precious and precarious!