Before the Sun Sets

We don't enjoy thinking about physical death.  And we all deal with things in our own ways.  Some use humor, while others refuse to address the topic at all.  I guess one of the best parts of being a Christian the hope that death isn't the end...in fact, it's the beginning of something better.  Like Paul wrote, “to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21).  And if we are walking in the light, then “to die is gain.”  The most beautiful sunset isn't just one that is pleasing to the eyes.  A sunset that marks the end of a day spent giving your all, now that's something to celebrate.  What will you do before the sun sets for the last time on your life? 

            Moses said it right, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away” (Psalms 90:10).  Time is precious, partly because none of us knows how much we have left.  But we were never meant to live here eternally.  “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”  So, we ought to live our lives with the attitude that, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:13-15). 

            One sure thing about life is that it will end, so, why place hope and trust in anything in this world?  Where are you storing up your treasures? “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matt 6:19-20). 

            Hope.  Do you have it?  Christians can take comfort in these words: “…Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on…that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!" (Revelation 14:13). 

----Darrell Powell