That’s life, huh? What would it mean to live that life like we were dying? If you got word you had only 30 days left to live, how would your life change? How would you spend your time? How would it impact your relationships? How would you prepare for eternity? What would you do that you’ve never done before? How would God want you to live those 30 days? What would you do with this precious life you’re currently clinging so desperately to? For the next 30 days, we’re going to think about these simple questions together. I’m not typically a big country/western music fan, but there is a very popular, fun Tim McGraw song prompting a lot of thought-provoking questions recently. I like it very much! It is one man’s “live like you were dying” journey condensed into 4 minutes. Give it a listen sometime…
I wonder. Are we fully aware the death rate for our congregation is currently projected to be 100%? Statistics can deceive, but this is a statistic with very little room for interpretation! None of us are exempt. None of us will escape. The Bible makes this clear to us from Genesis to Revelation. And because of this, the Bible also makes it clear we must live each precious day of our lives in light of the fact of our looming death. Not in some morose or depressing way, but in abundance. As we realize the brevity of this life, Jesus encourages us to fully enjoy the abundance of this life. Live each precious moment of this life fully aware of the fact that each moment is a decision preparing us either for an eternity with God or an eternity apart from Him.
Jesus, as He was describing Himself and His ministry, in John 10:9-10, said something very interesting. He said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
Are you experiencing this life in all its fullness? Jesus didn’t come to give us a better list of rules or form of religion. He came to give us life and life abundant. Are we enjoying that? Where do we even start a good conversation about these things? I’m glad you asked! Open your Bibles to the 13th chapter of Romans, verses 11-12 (page 1036). There are three distinct challenges God wants us to notice in these two verses. The Apostle Paul is talking about right living and he says, “Another reason for right living is that you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for the coming of our salvation will soon be here. So don’t live in darkness. Get rid of your evil deeds. Shed them like dirty clothes. Clothe yourselves with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light.”
Do you hear the urgency in Paul’s words? Our first challenge this morning is to live with a sense of urgency. Get off the stick, folks! We don’t have all day to make up our minds on these things. We don’t know how much time we’ve got on this earth. We don’t know what tomorrow may bring, nor are we even assured there will be a tomorrow. We must live each precious day with a sense of holy urgency.
One of the most dangerous words in the English language is “someday.” Someday I’ll make things right with my parents. Someday I’ll take that trip. Someday I’ll have more time for the kids, for the church, for my friends. Someday I’ll talk to my friend about Jesus or go back to school, take a risk or do something different with my life. And then someday gets ripped away from us for one reason or another and we feel angry, cheated and robbed.
Someday is a sneaky thief stealing away this day! Don’t let it do that! Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:27-30: “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?”
Trust Almighty God to worry about someday. Make up your mind to pay attention to this day! Not frantically, breathlessly or in some new, more exhaustingly busy and undisciplined way, but urgently paying attention to this day because, as the psalmist wonderfully declares in Psalm 118:24: “This is the day the LORD has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.”
It is later right now than it has ever been. You are dying! So let’s live with a sense of urgency! Resolve to live the next seven days without regrets. Not living in the past, not worrying about the future, but embracing each day as a gift. Not taking life for granted. Let’s resolve to make that our testimony in this first week of this conversation. Let’s get urgent!
The second challenge of our Romans 13 passage relates to our eternity. As much as it is a mistake to take today for granted, it is an even bigger mistake to take eternity for granted. While we must learn to urgently embrace today, we must never think today is all there is. We must live with a sense of eternity. We must understand that the good work of salvation begun in us will one day, very soon, be carried on to completion. We are all rushing headlong toward our eternity. We are all about to stand before God and give an accounting for what we did with the life we were given to enjoy. We live each moment fully aware that this life is only the very beginning of our eternal lives. We live in the sure and certain knowledge that how we choose to live this life will largely determine how we experience the eternal part of our life.
There’s a wonderful story about Winston Churchill’s funeral I’ve told many times. The old man left instructions that not one, but two buglers would play at the close of his memorial service. Those two buglers stood high above the audience in the dome of the cathedral. The first bugler played “Taps,” but the second bugler, before the last note of Taps faded away, played “Reveille.” Do you see? One song tells us that day is done, but there is another bugler. The final note played on this life will be only first note played on our eternity. There is coming an eternal song calling us finally get up in the morning. The moment of our death is only the very first moment of our eternity. We live in that eternal awareness.
The writer to the Hebrews makes these things plain: “We die only once, and then we are judged.” And that’s why Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 4:18, that “we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” We live each day in urgent awareness of the eternal importance of each day, longing to involve ourselves only in those things with eternal value. We refuse to spend our time chasing after all the things that wear out, go out of style, break down, collect dust and ultimately end up on a garbage heap somewhere. We refuse to accept the marketing spew urging to us to consume, consume, consume. We live in urgent awareness not simply that “Taps” will soon be played over us, but that “Reveille” will also. We live with a sense of eternity.
The third and final challenge of Paul’s words to the Romans is a logical outgrowth of the first two. We live with a sense of urgency. We live with a sense of eternity. And because we have this clear sense of urgency and eternity swirling within us, we also live with a very clear sense of priority. In Paul’s words, we find it necessary and obvious to take off some old, worthless, sinful, unimportant clothes and choose more urgent and eternally important ones instead. If we are truly going to live like we are dying, we must embrace very clear priorities.
We must take off sin and temptations to sin. That stuff is completely obvious. We all know that. But that certainly isn’t all. If we honestly and urgently believe we are dying, there is a bunch of stuff we just aren’t going to care about any more. We’ll refuse to accept a frantic pace of life. We’ll take that stuff off as we choose to slow down, savor, linger and enjoy each day. As the psalmist said in Psalm 46:10, we will joyously learn to “be still, and know that I am God.” Our priorities will change as we joyously learn to embrace the better way. A very natural cycle of Sabbath rest and reflection will peacefully reenter our lives. We will take off the insane pace of this world, walk slower, drive slower, and leave lots of sloppy gaps on our Palm Pilots. We will take off this world’s desire for “the good life,” whatever that is. We will refuse to allow this world to define the quality of our lives any longer. We will have different priorities from all those around us who haven’t yet figured out their terminal and eternal conditions. We will take off all sorts of stuff and we will put on the wonderful things that matter.
We will put on time for God, for friends, family and church. We will put on time in the Bible. We will put on the courage to say and do all the things that need to be said and done. We will put on only the truly good stuff. To live like we are dying means we have a very clearly defined, very urgent, very eternal sense of priority.
When I heard Dr. Richard Swenson speak at a Trout Lake Camp Men’s Retreat years ago, just days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, he addressed this issue of priority very bluntly. He spoke about the powerful Cantor Fitzgerald bond trading firm, which until that terrible week occupied floors 101-105 of the North Tower, doing billions of dollars in trades every year. He asked all the men in attendance that weekend one simple question. In the all too brief time period between the planes hitting the building and the towers coming down, who did the 685 Cantor Fitzgerald folks who lost their lives that day make a point of calling before they died? A lot of cell phone calls were made by those dear folks in their precious final moments. Did they call car dealers or real estate agents? Did they call bankers or brokers? Did they call rich and influential power brokers to score yet more deal while they still had the chance?Of course not! We all know the answer to those questions. When our awareness of death becomes urgent, when our sense of eternity becomes vivid and real to us – our priorities immediately change. We take off the old clothes of this world and put on entirely new ones.
Interestingly, when I went to Dr. Swenson’s website this week attempting to refresh my memory of this Cantor Fitzgerald story, I noticed a recent addition. A new link had been added to the home page; a eulogy for Dr. Swenson’s ten month old grandson who died last summer of complications from a birth defect in his heart. As I read the very touching eulogy written by Dr. Swenson’s son Adam, I was powerfully struck yet again by what our priorities in life ought to be. When our awareness of death becomes urgent, when our sense of eternity becomes vivid and real to us – our priorities can’t help but change. In the five years immediately following the 9/11 attacks, Cantor Fitzgerald vowed to give away 25% of its annual profits to the families of those lost in the attacks. As of September 2006, they have given away more than $180 million dollars! Why would a profit monster like that give away one quarter of its profits? Why would they do that? When urgency and eternity properly enter our thinking, our priorities change.
As we begin this “live like you were dying” conversation, there is a verse I want to leave us to ponder. It is Psalm 90:12. I want us to meditate on this verse throughout this week especially. The psalmist prayed, “Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may grow in wisdom.”
Make the most of the time you’ve been given. Carpe diem – seize this day!
As I was thinking of these things, I found myself strangely drawn to a short video clip Meredith Dahlquist posted on Facebook on New Year’s Day. I know it isn’t the highest quality video. It is just a little baby boy playing and laughing with his father. For some reason, ripping up paper with Daddy strikes the little guy’s funny bone.
Do you suppose it is possible, as Jesus calls us to pick up our cross and follow Him, as Jesus calls us to live each day as if we might die the next, as Jesus passionately calls us to come to the precious table and join our lives to His and to each other…do you suppose this simple little video might be the sort of wonderful, laughing, in this present moment relationship Jesus had in mind for each of us? Sure – we bump our heads from time to time. Sure – we fall over occasionally. Sure – stuff gets torn and messy and damaged and wasted in the process. But always there is laughter. There is always the trust, faith and expectation. There is always the interaction. And always, always, always there is Daddy. Always there is me and Him and this precious moment I will never, ever get back and I hope to never, ever, ever forget.
May we choose this day to live like we were dying! May we truly wake up and fully understand the urgency and eternity stuffed into this moment. May the laughing and lovely priorities of this Table truly become ours this year in a way we never imagined possible!
Amen.
