“LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is.” Psalm 39:4
Lord Jesus, I’m still processing my dear friend’s words, “Looks like I might be in heaven in three months.” My first response is, thank you for making heaven a glorious reality, and not an empty metaphor everyone reaches for to deal with the awkwardness, fears, and unknowns about death.
Your death was the death of death, and your resurrection is the guarantee of ours. Hallelujah, and thank you! One of the reasons you came into the world was to “set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying” (Heb. 2:15). Because the Gospel is true, we don’t have to be afraid of dying, or living.
My second response is, thank you Jesus for setting an expiration date on all cancer, heart disease, sin, evil, and brokenness. Hasten that Day. But thirdly, how might knowing I only had three months to live impact me? What would I do more of, and less of?
What resentments, irritations, grudges, and hurts that feel like an “8” (on a scale of 1 to 10), would get instantly dialed down to a “3” or even a “0”? I’m sure my “to love list” would instantly be more important and longer than my “to do list.”
Jesus, whether our remaining “brief time on earth” is 3 months, 3 years, or 3 decades, make this our core conviction, great joy, and daily reality: “The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love” (Gal. 5:6). Love from you, for you, extended to everybody else. A Huge Amen
