I once read a story about a preacher who resigned his position to become a doctor.  When asked why he made such a change, he answered, “because people are more interested in taking care of the body than in taking care of the soul.”  It wasn’t long before he left the medical profession and became a lawyer.  Again, the question: why the change from a doctor to a lawyer?  “Because,”he said, “people are more interested in having their own way than in taking care of either the body or the soul.”  

 

Quite a good commentary on the human family and its distorted view of life in this generation. It offers a rather accurate look at how we have mis-aligned our list of priorities and resultantly given a first rate dedication to a second rate cause. 

 

Millions of dollars are spent every year in an effort to save the body from its inevitable demise.  There is no price too high, no possession so dear that most people won’t part with it in an effort to preserve life for just a few more days.  While there’s certainly nothing wrong with taking care of the body as long as we can, we still must realize that death is a sure appointment, that we can only do so much to stay only so long here on earth.  We should bear in mind that there remains a better life for the faithful–one that is more abundant, and does not have all the baggage of this present existence.  God has “given us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust...” (II Peter 1:4).  The life we have here is not worthy of comparison with that one which is reserved for those who are faithful to their calling and watchful for His cause.

 

Have you ever stopped to think just what this life has to offer ultimately?  What does it really give that is so great, so precious that the acquisition of it is worth risking the loss of the eternal life offered for the true child of the King?  Is there security in this life?  Hardly!  Everything in this life–all that is about you–is waxing old, filled with canker and decay.  Everything is wearing out–including you. Life, as a matter of fact, offers no lasting place, no lasting conditions. Well, maybe fame, popularity, repute and gifts of this life are somewhat worth seeking.  But wait, will you?  Where are the popular politicians, the well-know entertainers, musicians, celebrities you grew up honoring? Yesterday’s movie starlet, with all her glitter and glamor, is today’s wrinkled old lady, yesterday’s leading man is today’s old codger, yesterday’s gifted athlete is today’s crippled up old has-been.   And, in fact, in many instances, yesterday’s celebrity is already forgotten by a fickle public which is now paying its respect to a new, younger generation of popular people.

 

Life offers no permanence, no stability, no lasting peace.  The events of life are constantly wrecking the stability and peace we so fervently seek.  At the very best, life is short. The days of our lives are written like a book (Psalm 90:9-10)–one chapter at a time–and the pages are passing. Life flits past like a train passing a picket fence.  It passes with the blink of an eye, or the snap of a finger. It fades like so much dust in the wind (James 4:13-14). 

 

It’s a sad sight to see so many attach their hopes and aims to something so fragile and impermanent. And what’s sad is that they do it in the midst of the full realization that “it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this cometh the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). It’s a sad sight indeed to see so many invest all they have in what will only bring a reward of old age, pain, tears, sorrow and heartaches.

 

But life has somewhat to offer for the Christian.  It offers tranquility in times of pressure and duress.  It offers faith in times of difficulty and pressures.  It offers hope in the middle of troubling situations.  It offers love as a motive for continuance, mercy for the guilt, peace for the troubled.  It offers grace for the spiritually needy and favor for the brokenhearted. It ‘s the only life that makes any sense.  And what’s more important, it eventuates in eternal life for those who live it properly.

 

These comments are not intended to give an oblique or slanted, depressed look at life, but simply to remind us that a life, devoid of service to God, is meaningless and mis-spent.  Let us worship God–not life.