Live Like You Were Dying
We are told in James 4:14 that our life is but a vapor that appears for a while and then is gone just like that. Have you ever had an experience that made you realize the gravity of this statement? I was playing baseball in West Virginia and I injured my shoulder, so I was sent down to Florida to do physical therapy. A friend of mine was down there doing physical therapy at the same time. Neither of us had a vehicle, so he decided to rent the cheapest car he could find. Typically when renting a car, the cheaper the option, the smaller the car. I am 6’4” and my friend is a pretty big guy too, so we did not fit in this car very well. We were driving to get lunch one day and we were in the turn lane waiting for the light to turn green. There were a few cars in front of us and as we pulled into the intersection to turn I looked to the left, and my friend must have seen my face because he immediately looked to the left. A huge F-250 was barreling at us full speed. I could see the woman driving with her head down, not looking at all. There we sat in the intersection with a huge truck racing towards our tiny little rental car. At the last second she looked up and swerved to the right as we punched the gas pedal. She barely missed the back end of our car, and we drove away unscathed. The near death experience left us rattled. We didn’t say a word the rest of the drive, and both of us were shaking.
I don’t know if you have ever experienced anything like that, but it really affects the way you think for awhile. Maybe you were almost in a car accident, or maybe you were in a car accident and somehow survived. It could be that somebody close to you has passed away. Experiences like these really make you look at life differently. When it happened to me all of a sudden all my problems didn’t seem so important anymore. The things that used to stress me out no longer did. It helped me focus on what was important in life. In the movies or TV they would say your life flashed before your eyes. I’m not so sure that happened, but it definitely had an impact on my life. It made me want to be a better person, and more importantly a better Christian. It made me so thankful for the time we have here on Earth, and so thankful for the sacrifice God made so that we have a hope beyond this life. I wanted to live more righteously, and share the hope of salvation I had with everyone! I was on fire for Christ, and wanted spread the good news!
Only a few short weeks later I had slipped back into my daily routines, and had sort of forgotten about the whole thing. All the problems and issues that were stressing me out before were stressing me out once again. Christ wasn’t at the front and center of my mind like He should be. I still loved God and wanted to do His will, but the distractions and temptations of the world had crept back into my life. It is so easy to get caught up in the chaotic pace of life, and somewhere along the way we lose sight of what’s really important in life. We let our jobs, hobbies, and other distractions pull us away from God.
Matthew 24:36–44 says “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
Jesus is trying to warn us against sliding back into the cares of the world. He is telling us to always live like we just had a near death experience. Jesus is going to come again at a time we are not expecting, so we must live our lives in preparation for His coming. This isn’t like a history test in high school that we can cram in all the studying the night before. Jesus draws the comparison of a man’s house getting broken into. The man wouldn’t have fallen asleep if he knew the thief was coming, just as we cant be lulled to sleep in our walks with Christ. We won’t know when He will return, and we don’t want to be caught off guard. When the flood came the people did not listen to Noah when he tried to warn them of the destruction that was coming. Jesus is trying to warn us of the destruction that is coming with him if we do not do the Father’s will. If you want another example go read 1 Thessalonians 5:1–11. Paul is writing to the Christians in Thessalonica telling them that people are going to get comfortable saying there is peace and security, and then destruction will come. He is warning them to not get distracted and comfortable in this life when we have been told there is more to come. Verses 9–10 say “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.” God does not want us to be caught off guard when Jesus comes back, He wants us to be living a full life serving Him so that we might spend eternity with Him in heaven. Just as John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus to come to Earth as a man, we should be preparing the way for Him to come again.
This is the time of year when many people are focused on Jesus and his birth, including those who do not typically focus on such things. We are making new years resolutions, and saying we will be better people next year. By the middle of January many of us will have forgotten about our resolutions, and will have fallen into our same habits from the year before. Tim McGraw has a song called “Live Like You Were Dying”, it is about a guy that hears from the doctor he only has a short time left to live. He then goes and does all the things that he has wanted to do all his life. He goes skydiving, climbs the Rocky Mountains, rode a bull named Fu Man Chu, loved deeper, and forgave people he had denied forgiveness. I love the message of this song, but I think he left out the most important part. We should be living like Jesus is coming soon! Let us as Christians not be lulled to sleep and forget that we are awaiting the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As we go into this new year lets ask ourselves a question. If you found yourself in that intersection with the F-250 bearing down on you, would you be ready to meet your Savior, or would you wish you had more time to get your life in order?
