“You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14
During the time when the United States was sending astronauts to the moon, one of the astronauts was being interviewed before he left on a mission and was asked this question, “After you get to the moon, and do what you are supposed to do, how are you going to leave the moon?” He said, “Well, we will get into our lunar module, fire the rockets, and the engine will lift us from the face of the moon and bring us home.” Then the reporter asked, “What if the rocket doesn’t ignite? What if the engine doesn’t work? How much time will you have?” The astronaut said, “We will have about six hours of life support on the lunar module.” The reporter then said, “What will you be doing during those last six hours?” He answered, “I’ll be working like crazy on that rocket and on that engine!” That was a great answer!
There is one thing we all know for certain and that is that life comes to an end. The clock is ticking for all of us; and one day that clock on this side of eternity will stop. For a believer it could end in one of two ways: Either we are going to die and go to be with Jesus, or before we die, Jesus is going to come for us. None of us are going to be here forever…or even, in the grand scheme of things, for very long.
In a real sense, we are all in the situation that the reporter asked the astronaut about. What he said about those potential final six hours of his life is exactly how we as Christ followers should live every day because we know that our time is short and we won’t be on this earth forever. We also know that what we do now echoes for eternity.
Our mission is greater than walking on the moon. It is to introduce people who don’t know Jesus, to the Jesus they can know, so that their lives can be transformed by the power of the same Gospel that has transformed ours. The Gospel, simply put, is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was buried and raised from the dead, and wants to come and live in us and take control of us so that we might be all that He created us to be.
Jesus lived His entire life under the shadow of the cross, knowing He was going to die for us. Therefore, we should live our lives under the shadow of the cross as well, being determined to live for Him. How do we do that? It’s not by working for Him, but by allowing Him to work in and through us. He is our lunar module – our life support – by which we can work like crazy to point others to Him.
Dear Father, I want to use the time You have given me to point others to You. I pray that you would give me wisdom and diligent to spend my time in a way that honors you. Give me an obedient heart to serve others with this life you've blessed me with. In Jesus' name, amen.
Topics: Death
