In light of the tragedies that have filled our headlines these past weeks, I’ve been reflecting on the brevity of life. It’s so fragile and short. As James 4:14 puts it, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” We don’t like to face the reality that our precious lives hang by a thread. But so they are.
In Psalm 90:12 we are reminded to pray, “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” When we see clearly that our days are numbered, we begin to live with hearts of wisdom. It’s foolish to act like we’re going to live forever. We grow too big for our britches, become overconfident, and live in self-sufficient denial. But when we see clearly how small and vulnerable we are, we naturally realize our need for God.
God is the only One whose life endures without end. He is the Alpha and the Omega, without beginning or end. He alone is everlasting. All other life is contingent upon Him. And it is in the humanity of our finite and contingency that we realize how deeply we need the infinite and eternal God who is the Source and Strength and Salvation of our lives. In Him, we have life, now and forevermore. He is our life.
The wonder of it all, is that God would come in the flesh in Jesus Christ and enter into our frailty, vulnerability, and finitude. He became one of us, and laid down His life in the midst of our tragedy, so that we might live forever in Him. His days were numbered that we might live for days without end.
Oh, the wonder of the Gospel! Our frailty has been future-proofed by the faithfulness of our self-sacrificing God, who died and rose again on our behalf.
We are indeed loved, more than we know!
We are indeed loved, more than we know!
