CONSIDER
YOUR MORTALITY AND LIVE WISELY
BREAD
10 The
length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet
their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly
away. 11 Who
knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is
due you. 12 Teach
us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalms 90:10-12 (NIV)
15 Be
very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16 making
the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore
do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Ephesians 5:15-17 (NIV)
1 O
LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my
thoughts from afar. 3 You
discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before
a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You
hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for
me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from
your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my
bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If
I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even
there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If
I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,”
12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night
will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For
you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I
praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are
wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in
the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your
eyes saw my unformed body. All the days
ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. Psalms 139:1-16 (NIV)
24 “The
God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and
does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And
he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself
gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From
one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth;
and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should
live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps
reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For
in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have
said, ‘We are his offspring.’” Acts
17:24-28 (NIV)
13 Now
listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city,
spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why,
you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a
mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. James 4:13-14 (NIV)
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every
activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a
time to uproot, 3 a
time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a
time to dance, 5 a
time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time
to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to
keep and a time to throw away, 7 a
time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time
for peace. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV)
20 I
eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have
sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body,
whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If
I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet
what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be
with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the
body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I
will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so
that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on
account of me. Philippians 1:20-26
(NIV)
13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the
matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of
man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every
hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Thou
hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its
rest in thee.” Augustine
“Life
is ‘a little while,’ a short moment of waiting. But life is not empty waiting.
It is to wait full of expectation. The knowledge that God will indeed fulfill
the promise to renew everything, and will offer us a ‘new heaven and a new
earth,’ makes the waiting exciting. We can already see the beginning of the
fulfillment. Nature speaks of it every spring; people [speak] of it whenever
they smile; the sun, the moon, and the stars speak of it when [they] offer us
light and beauty; and all of history speaks of it when amid all devastation and
chaos, men and women arise who reveal the hope that lives within them.”
Henri Nouwen
“Ask
me not where I live or what I like to eat…Ask me what I am living for and what
I think is keeping me from living fully for that.” Thomas
Merton
“Our days are numbered and God will let us – and everyone
else – know when our number is up. This
is not some pessimistic, fatalistic or defeatist attitude, and not mere
resignation. It’s seriously grounded in faith and trust in our Sovereign God
and Father. Our lives are in His loving hands from the womb to the tomb — and
beyond.” Rubin Grant
“Wherever you are, be all
there. Live to the full in every
situation that you believe to be the will of God.” Jim
Elliot
“Take heed
that you do not glory in your graces, but let all your glorying and confidence
be in Christ and His strength, for this is the only way you can be kept from
falling. Pray more often. Spend longer periods of time in holy
adoration. Read the Scriptures more
earnestly and constantly. Watch your
lives more carefully. Live nearer to
God. Take the best examples for your
pattern. Let your conversation emit the
fragrance of heaven. Let your hearts be
perfumed with affection for the souls of others. So live that others may recognize that you
have been with Jesus, and have learned of Him…On, Christian, with care and
caution! On, with holy fear and
trembling! On, with faith and confidence
in Jesus alone, and let your constant petition be, ‘Sustain me according to
your promise.’ He, and He alone, is able
‘to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence
without fault and with great joy.’” Charles H. Spurgeon
“It is too
easy to exist instead of live. Unless
you know there is a clock ticking. Live
everyday like you’re terminal. Because you are. Live everyday like your soul’s
eternal. Because it is. Robert Frost once said that a poem ‘begins as a lump in the
throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It is never a thought to begin with.’” Ann Voskamp
“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do
God’s work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human
motive, simply with God and to God.”
Henry Martyn
“We're pilgrims on
the journey - Of the narrow road - And those who've gone before us line the way
- Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary - Their lives a stirring
testament to God's sustaining grace - Surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses - Let us run the race not only for the prize - But as those who've
gone before us - Let us leave to those behind us - The heritage of faithfulness
passed on through godly lives - After all our hopes and dreams have come and
gone - And our children sift through all we've left behind - May the clues that
they discover and the memories they uncover - Become the light that leads them
to the road we each must find - Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful
- May the fire of our devotion light their way - May the footprints that we
leave - Lead them to believe - And the lives we live inspire them to obey - Oh may all who
come behind us find us faithful.” Steve Green
HEART
SAVOR
·
We are not our own – we have been bought
with a high price – therefore we are to honor God with our lives.
·
Teach us to number our day so that we may
gain a heart of wisdom.
·
May those who come behind us find us
faithful.
