LECTURE 1
GOOD LIFE OR LONG LIFE ?
Anytime a person dies, we all are very curious to know the number of years he spent living. Age has always been the focal point with which death is analyzed. It has always dictated the extent to which deceased persons are mourned. It does also dictate how bereaved families are to be sympathized with. In fact, should we see a random obituary or chance upon any funeral announcement on mainstream media, it will be one of the first elements to catch our attention.
Our sentiment towards deceased individuals and more so to bereaved families have always been prompted by age. If we, by contemplating the age, reckon it quite pleasing and plenteous, we conclude; “See how God has blessed this fellow . . .” and then proceed to implore Him to bless us in like manner. And if the age of the deceased person looks quite lesser or youthful, we bow our heads in grief and ask; “What could have taken him away so soon?” We just marvel at the shortness of his existence. Sometimes, we even do the unimaginable by charging such episodes on the good Providence of God and thus wonder at the dealings of His Tender Mercies.
We all seem to be plagued with attributing deaths that occur beyond age 70 to the blessings of God. But with regard to the ones that happen or fall within the lower range of existence, say from infancy to age 30 or 40, they simply excite the sympathy of society and leave them with a sorrowful wonder. They hardly believe that soul went too soon. And so in expressing their griefs in the obituaries, they do so with petty captions like; “What a shock?”, “Gone too soon” and many other frivolous epitaph undeserving of men who consider themselves pilgrims on earth.
The way and manner society, and worst of all the church, places premium on longevity baffles me so much. The sermon of the Bishop even gets more boring when he stands behind the mortal remains of a young brother to lead a memorial service. He begins nicely by talking about the trifles of life and the shortness of existence and how that we all will someday leave. But he concludes poorly by leading the gloomy congregation to implore The Lord for a longer life so they do not also end up as young as the fellow lying in the casket before him. We often hear this along many other perky urgings at the interment of young Christian brothers and sisters. Though such exhortations are uplifting in themselves, in the context of setting, it obliquely mocks the death of young individuals whose demise perhaps are a great incense before the Father.
Inasmuch as longevity is a blessing, it is also a vain thing. And truly, it is a vain thing to desire a long life on earth above a good and a fulfilling one. The number of days we live on earth should not be of much importance if we indeed claim to be pilgrims. Rather, our all delighting focus should be how well we live our lives though it be very little.
A day or a month well lived or spent on earth is way better than hundreds of years spent in slothfulness and in useless pleasure.
For all I know, the thirteen years old boy who dies an ardent believer of Christ is better off than the old centenarian who dies believing not in the God of Abraham. The latter had a long but a wasteful life whilst the former only had a very short but a fulfilling one. And not stated in too many words, it is the death of the former that the bible describes as precious.
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15).
But rather unfortunately, society holds the death of the former in aversion and then celebrates that of the latter. They consider with contempt what the lord holds very precious.
Honestly, I am of the view that, a little more or a little less of life are differences which disappear in the presence of His eternity. And it really does not matter if this frail vessel, this body of clay, be broken down and reduced to ashes a little sooner or a little later. Does it?
I, for one, prefer to only live a day on earth and do exactly as I am instructed by the Lord than to live hundreds of years chasing after trifles and fooleries.
Time is very valuable and so is life. For this reason, God has not left us any free time or time that we should use at our own discretion. I believe that every hour that passes by is loaded with duties that He has allotted to it with his own hands and for which He will hold us accountable. With this assertion, the man who has a lot of years on his laps has a lot to account to God.
“ . . . For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48).
That is to say, if a man is given much then he will surely have much to account for. And truth be told, for every activity or inactivity, for every word or silence we troop our days with, we shall give an account of every tiny bit of it to God.
So, if we should ever desire a thing about life, it should be the God-life and not necessarily a Long Life. Our all delighting focus should be how to do and fulfill the will of God in the little time we have today, and not to hope in great expectation of numerous years ahead.
One thing remains to be clarified. I never said you should despise long life neither did I say it should be held in abhorrence. All I am saying is, there is rather verity in living a God-Life than in that Long Life which lacks God’s fragrance. How long we live on earth doesn’t matter. It is how well we live it even if it’s just a day.
“For if length of days be thy portion,” said Sir Thomas Browne of Norwich, “make it not thy expectation.”
“Reckon not upon long life,” says Thomas again, “think every day the last, and live always beyond thy account.”
He goes on to say, “He that so often surviveth his expectation lives many lives, and will scarce complain of the shortness of his days. Time past is gone like a shadow; make time to come present. Approximate thy latter times by present apprehensions of them: be like a neighbour unto the grave, and think there is but little to come. And since there is something of us that will still live on, join both lives together, and live in one but for the other. He who thus ordereth the purposes of this life, will never be far from the next; and is in some manner already in it, by a happy conformity, and close apprehension of it. And if, as we have elsewhere declared, any have been so happy, as personally to underhand Christian annihilation, ecstasy, evolution, transformation, the kiss of the spouse, and ingression into the divine shadow, according to mystical theology, they have already had an handsome anticipation of heaven; the world is in a manner over, and the earth in ashes unto them.”
LORD, IT BELONGS NOT TO MY CARE,
By Richard Baxter
LORD, it belongs not to my care,
Whether I die or live;
To love and serve Thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.
If life be long I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short--yet why should I be sad
To soar to endless day?
CHRIST leads me through no darker rooms
Than He went through before;
He that unto GOD's kingdom comes,
Must enter by this door.
Come, LORD, when grace has made me meet
Thy blesséd face to see;
For if Thy work on earth be sweet,
What will Thy glory be!
Then I shall end my sad complaints,
And weary, sinful days;
And join with the triumphant saints,
To sing JEHOVAH's praise.
My knowledge of that life is small,
The eye of faith is dim;
But 'tis enough that CHRIST knows all,
And I shall be with Him.
THE LAPSE OF TIME.
By James Montgomery
Moments and minutes, hours and days,
To weeks, and months, and years
amount; Not one beyond its date delays:
For these we each must soon account.
How well, how ill, howe'er employ'd,
Our health, our strength, our talents lent;
All we have suffer'd and enjoy'd,
In wisdom or in folly spent:--
The secret things in darkness seal'd,
All we have felt, thought, spoken, done;
In heaven's pure light must be reveal'd,
When time's last act puts out the sun.
With every twinkling of an eye,
With every step, pulse, motion, breath;
The longest human life draws nigh,
And nigher to the gates of death.
The past we never can recall,
The present none has power to hold;
The future is not--few of all
The millions born on earth grow old.
What, then, are we, and whither bent?
Our Saviour calls--let us obey;
This moment, minute, hour, repent,
And live for ever from this day.