Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath. Selah. Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them. And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in You.

                                                                                                                     Psalm 39:4-7 

“Surely every man at his best is a mere breath.” David reminds all of us of the brevity of our time on earth, stressing just how transient are our lives here. Our lives compared to eternity are, as David would say, “nothing in God’s sight.” To illustrate this point I’m going to need you to use your imagination. Picture a line running in front of you. This line represents time. To the left and right, it runs as far as you can see and beyond. If you look to the left, you will see the past, even before your existence. In fact, this line runs all the way into eternity past. Looking to the right, you see the future, even beyond your life on this earth. The line in this direction runs all the way into eternity future. Now take your thumb and index finger and create a space of about two inches. Got it? Now place that on the imaginary line in front of you. That represents your life as compared to eternity. This is the reality that is being expressed in Psalm 39. We all know that we will not be here forever, but that doesn’t seem to stop many from living as if they will be.

“Making an uproar for nothing.” and “amassing riches” are ways of expressing the futility of man’s worldly pursuits. If there is a better narrative as to what we see happening in our world today, I don’t know what it would be. Today, people seem to be focused on everything except what really matters, knowing Jesus Christ. On average, we are given around seven, eight, or nine decades in which to live our lives. We would be wise to live every moment for the Savior. For those outside the church, this seems like foolishness, but this can even be a struggle for those who know Christ. My testimony includes a period of time in which I would have professed salvation in Jesus, yet I was not growing in my faith. This went on for around two decades. I have learned over the years not to refer to these seasons of life as “wasted” since God has proven faithful to use everything in my life, the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you have found yourself drifting away from making Christ a priority, I want to encourage you to press on. Put the past behind you and begin today. For the believer, there is nothing that God can’t use for your good and His glory. Kingdom building doesn’t require perfection, just perseverance.

Everyone will live forever, some in the presence of God and some separated from God. For those that belong to Christ, eternity is not even a bump in the road, merely a transition from earthly existence to a heavenly one. For the believer, eternity is something to look forward to, but for those apart from Christ, this reality should be terrifying. Tragically, many will forfeit eternal life in an effort to hold on to a life that they cannot keep in the first place. But it’s never too late. If you have a checkered past, that does not disqualify you. If you have been the greatest sinner the world has ever seen, that doesn’t exclude you from knowing Jesus either. If you have spent your entire life living for the “here and now”, you can still be saved. The only thing that will separate us from eternal life is our rejection of the gospel. God loves you! Take your thumb and index finger and hold that up to the timeline. Then consider eternity and call on the name of the Lord! (Romans 10:13)

So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom. 

                                                                                                                   Psalm 90:12