Another predicted doomsday has come and gone. The bible says no one can predict the last days but base on Psalm 90:10 “The days of our lives add up to seventy years, or eighty, if one is especially strong”. We can predict our last days easily. Half of the Bethesda Chapel population will be in our last days before the year 2033.
There will come a time when God drops a sign in our life that causes us to seriously question our life-path, our priorities and force us to deal with our dreams and aspirations. It is a defining moment when we see life screaming by; we question the past, evaluate the short-cuts taken, and wonder if we are prepared for tomorrow. This crisis moment involves intense introspection. “Is this all I am going to do for the rest of my life? Is this all I am going to achieve?”
Each year after attending Watch Night service, I realise that one more year has passed so quickly. These are pictures of brevity, underscoring our need to make the most of the present moment. With each image, human mortality becomes more and more terrifying to us. Ultimately, these images explain why we need an Eternal Refuge.
Unless we have a right relation with God, we are nothing and without a sure hope of immortality. God is our stronghold; He is who we run to as we consider our human frailty and our inability to get life right. Time is elusive.
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to (number our days) consider our mortality, so that we might live wisely.
Moses is telling us that life is short, so we need to consider our mortality, we should not waste time needlessly like the children of Israel in their wanderings. We should be aware of how few our days really are and how we must live in the present moment. Life and time are rushing on but we’ve been given a gift; it’s called the present moment. We are to be fully alive in this moment and seize it with passion. Where are you living today? Younger people live in the future. Older people live in the past. Wise people live in the present.
Someone said:
“If I had my life to live over again, I’d try to make more mistakes next time.
I would relax, I would limber up, and I would be sillier than I have been this trip…
I would be crazier. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunrise & sunset.
I would do more walking and looking.
I would eat more ice cream and less beans…
You see, I would live… sensibly hour after hour, day after day.
Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again I’d have more of them.
In fact, I’d try to have nothing else, just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead each day.
If I had to do it over again I would go places, do things, and travel lighter than I have.
Life is beautiful, even more beautiful for its brevity. We should not spend too much time for second-guessing or remorse. Having numbered your days, savour, risk, and delight in the gifts and precious moments that God gives. Love like you’ve never loved before. Enjoy the people near you, for people are frighteningly fragile. Cultivate those relationships. Go home and hug your love & your kids.
Deacon Nelson Tay
