PSALM 144:4 – Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

THEME OF THE DAY. MAKE IT COUNT. Today’s scripture is truth that I think often gets ignored. Life gets going with all its busyness, pursuits, dreams, goals, highs, lows, and everything else in between and we just neglect pondering this important truth from the Psalmist’s pen. We simply do life and sometimes forget this truth about life. And to do so is not only foolish but paves the way for wasting the one life we have that goes by fast, very fast.

So since today’s scripture is a certainty for all of us; we really are quickly passing from this temporal world to the eternal world, what may we do to make our one life count? Here are two things to consider . . .

First, live life one day at a time and that is today. There is nothing wrong with planning for the future, developing goals to seek, and having dreams of the future to enjoy, but remember God has given us just today to live. And it is not to be squandered by focusing so much on the future that we miss today. The founder of English Puritanism, William Perkins, said something very profound – “Fools are always futuring.” The point he was making is that if we are constantly looking for “greener pastures”, a change of this, or something new, we are living with discontent in the only day we have – today. By wishing for a brighter tomorrow in a not promised tomorrow is presuming upon God’s grace. The Apostle James warns us of such foolish thinking . Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin (James 4:13-17).

Another important principle to consider if we are to make our one life in this passing world really count is to ensure we are living by eternal and spiritual priorities. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). God did not give us life to be squandered on the things of this life. He gave us this life to prepare for the next and that toward Judgment Day. With this truth, we parent for eternity; we work on our marriages for eternity; we serve God’s people for eternity, and we make daily decisions for eternity with the mind of Christ guiding us. What we cannot do is be like the man in the parable Jesus warns of – And Jesus told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:16-21). God did not give us life in this world to simply enjoy life in this world. He gave us this one life to invest in this world for His glory, on His mission, and for our development into the likeness of His Son. Let this guide us in the day-to-day living of the one life we have. In doing so, there will be no regrets when our one life ends!

PRAYER: “Father, help me not to waste my one life on the trivial and passing things of this world.”

QUOTE: “Life goes by so fast. To ignore this truth sets the stage for wasting the one life that goes by fast.”