Brevity of Life

Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. – Psalm 90:12

My life has been rocked more than once by news of a sudden death. My friend’s young daughter killed in an auto accident. A recent high school graduate family member who died in an amusement park accident. More than one friend and family killed by drunk drivers. We get the news and nearly stop breathing. Our lives are on hold as we mourn. And we recognize the brevity of life…briefly.

I wonder if it’s because we don’t fully understand the brevity of life as God intends. Brevity of life shocks us; we talk about lives cut short, potential unrealized, and dreams unfulfilled. We appreciate life, but do we realize the brevity of life? The purpose of realizing the brevity of life, according to Moses, the author of Psalm 90, is wisdom. When we gain wisdom, we grow in our knowledge of God:

I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. – Ephesians 1:16-17

When we seek understanding, are we seeking understanding of our situation, or are we seeking understanding of God? The difference might appear subtle.

If you had to choose, would you rather…
…know how many days are left in your life, or know the purpose in each day of your life?
…know the details of all remaining employment (and unemployment) situations, or be assured all your needs will be met?
…know how to resolve a conflict with a family member or friend, or be assured of your family member or friend’s eternal life?

God's wisdom and knowledge isn’t the same as human wisdom and knowledge. No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the Lord. – Proverbs 21:30. God wants us to realize the brevity of life because we grow in (God’s) wisdom. When we grow in God’s wisdom, we grow in our understanding of His character. When we know God’s character, we can differentiate between our earthly understanding and His plan and purpose for us.

Realizing the brevity of life isn’t about walking through a tragedy. It’s about drawing closer to God, acknowledging Him as the source of all life, knowledge and wisdom. May your day be filled with discernment between His wisdom and understanding and your own wisdom and understanding. May you seek the heart of God so intensely you grow to know God’s heart more than you own. Pursue Him. He’s already pursuing you.

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin. – 1 Corinthians 1:24, 30

Stick To It

Consider a time you felt stuck. What words describe your experience?

Now consider a time you "stuck" to something. What words describe your experience?

There's quite a difference between being stuck and sticking to something. Even when we stick to something, we can get stuck in stubbornness or stick to perseverance.

We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience. And patience produces character, and character produces hope. And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us. - Romans 5:3-5 (NCV)

What we need to stick to is not a place or situation. We should stick to perseverance itself. Perseverance produces character, and character produces hope. The situation in these verses involves troubles. Our perseverance isn’t about sticking to the situation causing our troubles. Our perseverance focuses on what will take a through our troubles and other situations. We stick to perseverance because it’s perseverance which leads to hope, which according to the Bible, doesn’t disappoint us because of who God is!

Of course, we don’t know how long our troubles will last. Perhaps a brief time, perhaps a lifetime. But when we stick our feet into the sinking sand of our troubles, we’re definitely not going anywhere. When we set our sights on perseverance, we develop character and the hope. And hope carries us through our trials as we grow in our relationship with God. We cannot mature without perseverance. Ouch! So, if we’re not persevering, we’re not growing; we’re staying childish. God has a plan and purpose for each of us, but we can only fulfill that purpose if we're growing, which means persevering through troubles and struggles! If we refuse to grow up, we can’t begin to accomplish what God has planned for us.

You can sit in the middle of our troubles, look ahead and painfully wonder what it would be like if your life was different. Or, you can look ahead with hope and then move your feet, one step at a time, according to God’s direction and timing.

When you’re taking one step at a time according to his will, you’ll often find yourself in a different place, closer to God, and can glance back and celebrate the triumphs of persevering through trials!

What's Love Got to Do with It?

Love. We think we know what love is. Even if we think love has confused, hurt, and abandoned us, we still seek it. Why? We seek it because we’re created to seek it. We seek it even when we’ve been confused, hurt, and abandoned, because we confuse human love with God’s love. Human love is limited, so we’re going to be confused, hurt, and abandoned. It’s not love that has done these things to us; it’s people. And God is God, not “people.” We need to differentiate between flawed human love and completed God’s love.

Under the age of 10, what was your perspective of love? How would you have defined love or known someone loved you?
What about when you were high school and/or college-age?
Now?
How do you expect your perception and definition of love will change in the next stage of your life?

God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NCV)

As we specifically consider “God is love,” let’s discover what love is, helping us to understand the character of God. Love is aptly strewn throughout God’s Word, but perhaps the most commonly referred to verses are found in 1 Corinthians 13.

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love does not count up wrongs that have been done. Love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices over the truth. Love patiently accepts all things. It always trusts, always hopes, and always endures. Love never ends. There are gifts of prophecy, but they will be ended. There are gifts of speaking in different languages, but those gifts will stop. There is the gift of knowledge, but it will come to an end. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 (NCV)

If God is love (and he is), he is all these things:

Patient
Kind
Not jealous
Not boastful
Not proud
Not rude
Not demanding of own way
Not irritable
Keeps no record of wrongs
Does not rejoice in injustice
Rejoices when truth wins
Never gives up
Never loses faith
Always hopeful
Endures through every circumstance
Lasts forever

Reflect on these qualities of God. Make a note of any quality you sometimes struggle to believe. (Please recognize the Bible also says God is jealous. Without going into an in depth word study, consider jealous is used with slightly different meanings in different contexts.)

Let me assure you struggling is okay. Struggling comes from tension, and while tension left unattended can become destructive, tension leading to a progressive struggle produces growth. I encourage you to refuse to struggle on your own. You’ve considered the qualities of God’s love you struggle with the most so you can ask him to show you these qualities in real and personal ways.

God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17 (NCV)

God’s love is active. Because he loved the world, he gave us Jesus, his one and only Son, to live on earth and to die an excruciating, humiliating death. Giving is an action. Love is an action. God’s love doesn’t take the easy path. He has the best conclusion in mind, but the path to that conclusion is often not easy. Don’t you think if there was ever a situation in which God would have found an easier path, he would have spared his own Son an excruciating and humiliating death? But God knew Jesus’ death was not the end result, and the benefit of your eternal life was worth the pain of the path. Next time you think you’re in an excruciating or humiliating situation, consider Jesus. God’s love is active, and he instructs us to love one another. That means our love should be active, too.

Stumbling through Prayer

Clomp. Clomp. Clomp. I was trying to focus on prayer during church, but all I could hear was the thud of heavy walking. I was sitting in the balcony, and the floor shook. I'll admit it. I opened my eyes and looked up to see the culprit. I thought only a 250-pound man could make such a ruckus. Ha! It was a young girl with bulky-soled books. And she was wandering across the balcony with her head held high and no regard to anyone around her. How rude!

As is often the case, God asked me a subtle question in the moment of my judgment. "Can you not focus on me while there are distractions?"

I started thinking about my daily life, and how I sometimes have my arms so full, I can barely see where I'm walking. Have you ever tripped while carrying groceries into the house or a stack of books up school stairs? What about when carrying boxes when moving or reorganizing? When the focus is on what's in your hands instead of where you're going, you can get yourself in trouble. Like when I reached for the door handle while carrying pizzas and firmly grabbed the bee sitting on the handle!

God meets us where we are, whether we're carrying an armload of baggage and personal responsibilities or not. But our focus will be impaired. We have to focus on adjusting the weight we're carrying or peering around our loads to make our next steps. We won't be fully attentive until we set down our burdens and clear our paths to seeing and hearing God.

Distractions aren't always out of our control, like the girl clomping across the balcony. Distractions are often in our own hands. What distractions will you set aside?

Because he is our God and we are the people he takes care of, the sheep that he tends. Today listen to what he says. - Psalm 95:7 (NCV)