When My Days Are Short

When My  Days Are Short

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Ps. 90:12 (NIV)
 

Last week our family laid one of its own to rest.  We gathered to remember, to offer encouragement, to mourn...and yes, to consider the uncertainty of our own lives.  Who would be next?  Am I ready, if it is me?  Are my family members assured of their own eternal destination?

But then, the thoughts generalize to the less morbid.  Is my life counting for anything?  When they gather to say goodbye to me, will there be a void?  Will I have a legacy that I leave behind?  Believing children, grandchildren, friends?

"Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom." Ps. 90:12 (NLT)

Life is short -whether we are granted 70 years on this earth, or 100.  In view of eternity, our days here are but a mist, a vapor.  So fleeting are they.  So why then do we spend our short time on so many things that do not matter?  Worries that are meaningless? Pursuits that are only fulfilling in the moment?  Does making the extra $30,000 a year translate into anything of lasting value?  Is all of our recreation really that essential to our quality of life? 

A life that is lived to serve, lived to love, lived to impact others for heaven, is the only kind that will be rewarded when we stand before our Maker.  When our lives, our actions, our motives, our moments, are weighed upon the scales of eternity, will they be of value?  To anyone but me?

A life lived in the proper perspective of time, with an eye toward eternity, is a life wisely spent.  Not wasted.  What can I do today that will matter to someone else?  Am I fulfilling God's purpose for me?  The thing I was formed in my mother's womb to accomplish?  Or instead, and am I frittering away the precious commodity we call time?

Today, O God, teach me  to number my days aright. Teach me to live in the moment, with an eye to eternity.  Show me who to encourage, who to reach, who to bless.  Help me to not waste precious time worrying about an uncertain future, being angry or petty.  Help me  to be sober about the time I have.  And thankful.  Thankful that you gave it to me to steward.  In Jesus' Name.

If you know you are not ready to meet the Lord should your days be fulfilled today, would you pray this prayer with me?

Dear Lord, I am a sinner.  I know that I  cannot do enough  good to be saved.  I need a Savior.  Lord, I believe that you are the Son of God and  that you died for my sins, and carried the penalty for my wrongdoing.  I confess my wrongs to you and I ask you to forgive me.  Wash me.  Cleanse me.  Make me a part of the family of God.  I  ask you into my heart and take you as Lord of my life.  In Jesus Name.  Amen.

If you  prayed  this prayer with me, meaning it in your heart, you are a new creation!  You are born again!  Your future in  heaven is sure!  The Bible tells us:  "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."  (I John  1:9) 

If you received the Lord, I would love to hear from you so that I can pray for you as you begin your new life in Christ!  

You may comment here.  If you do not want it published, say so, and I will not publish it!

© Sherri Evans Ministries 2015. All rights reserved. Used by permission. For booking schedule and information: sherrievans@sherrievansministries.com

The Final Choice

"Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the LORD, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?" You turn things around! Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay, That what is made would say to its maker, "He did not make me"; Or what is formed say to him who formed it, "He has no understanding "?" Isa. 29:15-16 (NIV)

It is a top news headline- Brittany Maynard (Diaz) chose to end her life this weekend in Oregon, under the "Death with Dignity Act."  Maynard, a terminally ill patient with an inoperable brain tumor, decided  that the death that would come to her via her illness, was too dreadful to contemplate or endure.  Because of this decision, she, her family, and husband relocated to Oregon where the law permits terminally ill patients, who are in their right mind, to obtain a lethal dose of Barbiturates and other medications to shorten their dying.

When I first read the article about her in "People" magazine, and later through numerous internet articles, my heart was gripped with anguish for this beautiful 29-year-old newlywed.  Previously a school teacher planning to start a family, Maynard was diagnosed January 1st, after headaches became unbearable.  When she had exhausted all of the options she wanted to employ, she made the difficult choice to end it all.  This thrust her in the unexpected role of beautiful spokeswoman for the "right to die" movement. 

Where do you fall in that argument?  Is that a choice you believe you would make?  Is that a choice you could live with a loved one making?  Can we even know what we would do in such a situation?

I honestly am not interested in engaging in a political debate.  To me, this is a spiritual issue.  Although it is not popular these days to state this, there truly are moral absolutes.  I fondly call them "The Bible".  It is filled with "do's and don'ts."  But not to the end of religion.  Rather, to the end of relationship.  God loves us so much that He tells us what we must do to walk in fellowship with Him and what we must avoid to maintain that intimacy.

To me, Brittany Maynard's tragedy is even greater than whether or not suicide is a sin.  It goes back to "square one".  The Lordship issue.  Is there a God?  Is it alright with Him if we choose to terminate a life because it is not convenient?  Because it is painful?   Because birth is not desirable or the expiration date is too close at hand? 

I believe with all my heart that there is a God.  One God. That He is the Creator of every living person and that as the Creator, He alone has the right to begin or end a life.  But what has "gutted" me about this situation is that Maynard apparently did not feel she had access to grace and mercy to endure the hard times.  She seemingly did not know that there was more to life than what we experience in this world.  And that is imminently sad to me.  If I did not believe in a loving Creator-God, then perhaps such a decision would feel right to me as well.

She is gone.  Whether or not you, or I, believe she made the right choice, she has eternally cast her lot.  I do not condemn her.  I feel for her.  My heart breaks for the grief-stricken family.  It is hard to understand why people have to endure such hardship and pain in this life.  There are times, that we all wish we could hit the "escape" switch- should one truly exist.  But if we sincerely believe God is the author of life, then He alone gets to sign off at the conclusion of our story, "The End."

I am also concerned for the ripple effect this can ultimately cause.  Whether or not you believe a person has the right to make a choice to end their life.  Whether alone or  with doctor-assisted suicide, we must realize that once this gate is open, the fall-out will be farther reaching than we imagine. 

People hurt.  They face real, messy, complicated choices.  Choices that weigh heavily on the mind.  Choices that have lifelong (to eternal) consequences. Many of these choices are unavoidable.  But is living or dying really a choice, we, as mere humans, make? 

Some people consider it a negative to have a God who call the shots.  But I, for one, am grateful that He is seated on the throne over my life.  I don't have to be.  I don't have to know everything.  I just know that He loves me.  He wants what  is best for me and He has the power to give me grace to walk through anything He does not deliver me from.

And in Him, I have HOPE!  Hope of help.  Hope of healing.  Hope of eternity in heaven with Him, where there will be no more pain, death, or suffering.

Dear God, I pray today for those grappling with the Lordship issue.  I pray for those who have not yet chosen to give their life to you.  I pray for those who are bearing the unbelievable strain of making horrible choices within the confines of their own knowledge or understanding.  And Lord, I pray for the precious family of Brittany Maynard Diaz.  Please, Lord, comfort them and carry them through their grief, and help us to show them Your love.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

A Love to Die For

"For this is the message you have heard from the beginning:  You should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him?  Because his own actions were evil and his brother's righteous.  Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.  Anyone who does not love remains in death.  Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.  This is how we know what love is:  Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers."
I John 3:11-16

I love the parallels and intricacies of the Word of God.  The most famous scripture of all, John 3:16, is all about love and what God gave to show his love.  Now I John 3:16 seems to build upon that same foundation.  Ironic.  Or is it?

The most profound declaration of love is to lay down our lives for another.  Usually making that kind of sacrifice would be limited only to our very closest family, or maybe an unusually close friend.  Yet Jesus laid down his life for his  enemies.  When I was in sin, when I did not want to follow or please him, he looked  and me and said, "Yeah.  She's worth it!"  The same is true of you.  It is purely ludicrous in our way of seeing things, but that is the power of this extravagant, God-kind of love.

In this passage I can almost hear Jesus say, "You want to show love?  Watch me very closely and carefully do what I did."  Then Jesus embraces Judas,  and  his fate,  He willingly stretches out his arm in a love-embrace upon a cruel cross.

Perhaps- and hopefully-  we will never be called upon to literally lay down our lives for a brother.  But in other sacrificial, dying-to-self kinds of ways, we can  live this kind of love daily.  This kind of love lets someone else take the credit; get the leanest cut of meat, and have their pick of TV show.  This kind of love does not think less of self, but rather thinks of self less often.  (I believe Pastor Rick Warren said this).

We ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  Not that this is a best practice.  Not that it is preferable and highly recommended.  Rather, we ought to do it.  It is just part of our reasonable sacrifice of love.

Dear Lord, forgive me when I become self-centered or resentful in serving.  Help me to love in life as you did in death.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

Sherri