Life is Short
September 25, 2006I will be spending the next three days travelling to attend a funeral.
Funerals remind us of our mortality. They cause us to reflect on our lives and on our loved ones. At times like these I consider the way I am spending the time God has given me, and whether I am spending it on the right things. And I wonder whether my life is making any difference…and whether it needs to make a difference.
In the Declaration and Address of 1809, Thomas Campbell wrote:
Oh! that ministers and people would but consider, that there are no divisions in the grave; nor in that world which lies beyond it: there our divisions must come to an end! we must all unite there!– Would to God, we could find in our hearts to put an end to our short-lived divisions here; that so we might leave a blessing behind us; even a happy and united church.
May God enable all of us to make a difference in that area.
If I am to live to be as old as the gentleman whose funeral I will attend on Wednesday, I have another 30 years remaining. But the days pass with increasing speed. When my great-grandmother was 86 years old, she told me that it had taken half of her life to reach age 16. I am past the midpoint between those two milestones, and see no reason to doubt her statement. Perhaps this is what Paul had in mind when he said:
Eph 5:15-16 Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil
Let’s pray that God will enable us to live up to that calling.
Christian Unity 
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