Psalms 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”.
Let me begin by saying that I read an article that grabbed my attention and possibly inspired me to preach on this topic this morning. The article’s headline read, “Life Expectancy in U.S. Declines Slightly, by the average of 6 weeks, and Researchers Are Puzzled” this tells me that if this is the average, it means that many people’s life has decreased by much more than this. I don’t know about you, but I could do a lot in 6 weeks if I knew I was dying. I know that I wouldn’t have to worry about how long I was going to live, that would come to, Oh Yeah, 6 more weeks!!! So today, what if we love a little deeper, laugh a little more, and hold our loved ones a little tighter because we don’t know what tomorrow holds.
James 4:14 For you know not what shall be tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away’.
So I asked myself, and I ask all of us to examine some areas that are guaranteed to shorten the fullness and length of our lives. It is apparent that many folks are actually looking for ways to shorten their lives and I say that based on the life choices they’re making. Can we get real practical here? These things may not keep you out of heaven, but they’ll get you there a lot sooner, and reduce the quality of life till you get there!
We can know bible principles without having spiritual lifestyle values…
I do not say any of this to condemn, but out of concern, I am still amazed when I see folks smoking, when we all know now, that the chances of getting lung disease and lung cancer are very, very high. And that doesn’t include the high probability of heart disease, throat cancer and other organs failing. It is a proven fact that smoking will shorten a person’s life by 10 years or more. It’s a no brainer. Even up into middle age or later, when people quit smoking their over-all health improves greatly.
Here’s another way to shorten your life… driving recklessly, driving while drinking, and driving without a seat belt. It’s one of the major causes of death in people of all ages. A guy was pulled over for speeding, and as the officer approached the car, he noticed lighter fluid, matches, and torches, in the passenger seat next to the driver. “Sir,” said the cop, pointing at the paraphernalia. “Can I ask why you have that stuff in the car? ”“Well officer, it’s quite simple, I’m a juggler in a circus and this is my equipment!” The cop, clearly not believing him, insisted that he come over to the side of the road and light the torches and juggle them, so he can see if his story was indeed true. Just then an elderly couple cruised by and the old man turned to his wife,and said “Mabel, I’m sure glad I finally gave up drinking! Can you believe the drinking test they are giving these days?!”
Next, be a couch potato, live a none active lifestyle…. Don’t exercise, don’t walk, just physically disengage! You can’t just put your body in neutral, it keeps processing what you eat, but the problem is that it gets confused and starts storing up what it normally burns up. So your body is trying to do something with what you’re putting in it, and it’s only solution is fat. So muscles atrophy, kidneys, blood vessels, liver, heart, and other organs become clogged up, stressed out, and inefficient….. It should shorten your life and get you to heaven about 9 or 10 yearssooner.
If you want to die early, stay away from fruits and vegetables and healthy eating habits…. Because they can actually reverse the aging process. We wouldn’t eat foods that have a poison label on them, but we Eat fatty, greasy foods, lots of sugar, and eat too much when we do eat, that way we can be guaranteed to have a shorter life.
Rosie was overweight, but she was trying to get on a weight loss diet. She told her best friend, that after her birthday party, halfthe birthday cake was left over, so she ate it, she just couldn’t help herself. It started with a small nibble and before she knew it the cake was gone! “That’s terrible, did your husband find out”? her friend asked. With a full double chin smile, Rosie said “No, he never did, I just baked another cake and ate half of it, so he wouldn’t find out !”
Oh, yes, to shorten your life, keep a lot of stress in your life, and worry, worry, worry. Take everything personally, and make sure to over work, and over achieve.. Someone said that they don’t take vacations and they don’t relax because the devil never does…..Well, I guess the Devil must be their example! And another thing is to be thin skinned and over sensitive, always feeling that everyone is out to get you. (listen, you’re not that famous) I like what CM Ward said… when he was preaching about the perils of the apostle Paul, he said ”if they run you out of town, get up front and turn it into a parade”!!!!
Some folks get depressed, and even angry about getting old, about retiring, about their job, about politics, about their kids and on and on we could go. They convince themselves they’re right and everyone else is wrong, and they get bad attitudes. They become grouchy old men and women who have fewer and fewer friends. They begin to isolate themselves. But they don’t have to worry about it long because this approach to life will cut short the number of birthdays they have to worry about.
And last, you can always avoid regular doctor and dentist visits and ignore what your body is telling you to pay attention to, and ignore what the doctor tells you, and just do what you want. Listen, this is the only physical body you will be given, take care of it! Ignore it and you will be well on your way to a shorter life. I understand that when we all get to heaven, we’re going to wish we had arrived sooner, but while we’re here, we have a God given assignment and purpose. We can live a fuller and longer life and enjoy some heaven on earth to go to heaven in! Happiness is not in things, but our attitude about things and circumstances.
People say, well, it doesn’t matter because we’ve all got to die sometime. But you don’t need to help death out, if it’s going to happen anyway.
I need to add here, that scripture says, Psalm 139:16, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
And yes, It is true that God has a blueprint for our life, but there’s only one copy and it’s locked up on the Third Floor of the Administration Building in the third heaven. I don’t know any way that you can get a copy.
We must also pay attention to Proverbs 4:7 “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with your getting, get understanding”.
Look at what the bible says….about how you can be guaranteed a long life span….Besides NOT DOING all the things we have already mentioned, that will shorten your life,
John 14:6 tells us “Jesus said unto him, (speaking to Thomas) I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man can come unto the Father, but by Me”.
Jesus isn’t just letting Thomas and the other disciples know how to have a long full life here, but he’s letting them know that their life isn’t just about physical living, but forever, glorified ruling and reigning w/ Christ.
We can live long and be miserable, and we can live long and be a pain in the neck to everyone around us… or we may live a life that completes our mission here even though it’s short. But in that short full life, we may accomplish more than someone who lived to see 90. 2 Timothy1:7 “For God has not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind or (self-discipline)” .
The 12 disciples could not have dreamed that they would touch the world from such an insignificant place as the region of Galilee…..
But it’s about making a difference, and making an impact on the lives of others around us, one life at a time. A mother may never do much more than raise some great kids, and still touch the lives of thousands in doing that well….
A person may only seem to accomplish little things, but as they do it unto the Lord and do it in faith, it becomes much more in God’s hands.
I know many little grandmas that touch the world everyday on their knees in prayer. They touch kings and rulers. They shake the business world as they pray for sons and daughters that God has placed there.
When I think of a full life of accomplishment, I think not only of Billy Graham but of his father, who was a farmer. God put on his heart to get together each day with some neighboring farmers from the church he attended. They would pray together each week at a certain day and time on his farm, in a grove that he had cleared out, that God would raise up a powerful voice which would speak for Him and sweep souls into the kingdom. For years they faithfully prayed. Little could he know that his son Billy, would be the answer to his prayers and millions would come to Christ. What an example of little becoming much!
As we look at long life, Jesus thought in terms of eternal life, but He also gave us a mandate to use wisdom and eternal values in the choices we make and the lifestyle we live here and now.
Hebrews 12:1-3 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hindersand the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
A Harvard public health study of 75,000 people whose lives were tracked over a twenty-year span. One of the interesting findings was that attending religious services is associated with longer life expectancy. Those who attended services twice a month had a 13% greater chance of staying alive, those who attended every week had a 26% greater chance of staying alive, and those who attended more than one church function a week had a 33% greater chance of staying alive. So we’ll see you all next Sunday.
The bottom line is that we all make decisions in our lives that will effect all the rest of our life. These are value decisions that provide the foundation for all the rest of our choices. Some folks make their value decisions based on making money, others make those decisions based on position or fame. Still others allow their hurts, offences, and failures to set their value systems, which become the foundation for their behavior and relationships.
It’s like the skydiving instructor who was answering questions from a group of first timers. And one girl asked, "If our main chute doesn't open, and the reserve chute doesn't open, how long do we have until we hit the ground?" The instructor looked at her and said, "You have the rest of your life."
So, based on the things we’ve looked at so far, how’s the rest of your life looking at this point?
A Christian’s value system has the bible as it’s source and has Christ at it’s center….
1Corinthians 6:19 “What? Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have been given by God, and you are not your own? v20 For you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's”. This attitude is the best life insurance that money cannot buy!
In the movie “Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell ran in a meet between England, Ireland and Scotland. Because of his faith, he refused to run on Sunday, and he went on to become a missionary. But in the race which the movie is based on, he ran the 100-, the 220-, and the 440-yard events. In the 440, he got off to a bad start. When the gun sounded, there was a lot of shoving to get in front to the inside lane, which was the most desiredposition. Liddell tangled feet with J. J. Gillies of England and tumbled down onto the track. He sat there dazed for a moment, not knowing whether he could get up, when the official screamed, “Get up and run!” He jumped to his feet and took off after the pack, which was now a full twenty yards ahead of him. In a quarter mile, that’s a big distance to try to make up. With his unorthodox style of running, he pulled into fourth place ten yards behind the leader. With forty yards to go in the race, he pulled into third place, then second. Then right at the tape he passed Gillies, stuck his chest out, and broke the tape, thencollapsed to the track in total exhaustion. Medical personnel had to assist him off the track. An article appearing the next day in The Scotsman newspaper said, “The circumstances in which Liddell won the race made it a performance bordering on the miraculous. Veteran runners whose memories take them back thirty-five years and in some cases longer in the history of athletics were unanimous in the opinion that Liddell’s win in the quarter mile was the greatest track performance they had ever seen.”
If you fall, TRY AGAIN!....Oh, There’s something glorious about getting up off the track after you’ve been knocked down and running again. Win or lose, you didn’t stay down.
Some of you have been knocked down. Maybe Satan has tripped you up and you’re working your way through it all. Perhaps you have made some foolish decisions. Perhaps other people have done you wrong. When we’ve fallen down on the track and everything seems like it’s flying by us, we might just feel like staying down, injured on the track. But the only real failure is to stay there and not get up.
God’s word to you is, “Get up and run!” Forget those who have wronged you. Forget what lies behind and run for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. You still have a race ahead of you. It’s like the runner who got so tired he barely finished the race. His trainer said, I wasn’t sure you would make it. He said I prayed and said “Lord I’ll keep on picking em up if you’ll keep on putting em down”.
God didn’t just give us a life to only begin this race. He didn’t just send you to only begin a noble task or a noble cause. God sent you to start and to finish well. Hear the Lord as He whispers to you once again, saying, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
May we all be able to say what Paul wrote as he sat in a Roman jail, knowing that he was soon to be martyred for the faith. You sense the incredible relief in his spirit as he says, in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is laid up in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day.”
Friends, I want to tell you that our wonderful Lord stands ready, willing, and able to help you make it. He is the faithful rewarderof all who put their trust in Him and your being here is not by accident, it is by Divine Appointment!
There are two groups of 4 words that can turn it all around, that can give us another chance, no matter what we have done with our lives, and those 4 words can open doors that have been locked shut. The first words were spoken to another prostitute who was dragged before Jesus, and as the accusers stood around her, He said the first four words “I don’t condemn you”…..Condemnation doesn’t give anyone hope, condemnation doesn’t motivate anyone to get up and try again. And condemnation only gives judgment, not second chances.
But Then He brings us the next 4 words….
Luke 7:36 “And one of the Pharisees (Simeon) desired that Jesuswould eat with him. And Jesus went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat. v37 And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a prostitute, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, (worth a year’s wages) *…..v38 And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and kneeling down, began to wash his feet with tears, and she wiped them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. v39 Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he thoughtwithin himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet, would have known who and what manner of woman this is that toucheshim, for she is a sinner. (there is always someone who tries to block your way) *…..v44 And Jesus turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, See this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet: but she has washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. v45 You gave me no kiss, but this woman since the time I came in has not ceased to kiss my feet. v46 My head with oil you did not anoint,but this woman has anointed my feet with costly ointment. v47 Wherefore I say unto you, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven. v48 And He said unto her, your sins are forgiven”.
Four powerful words….. Your sins are forgiven…
And Jesus hit the reset button on her life. New opportunities and new potential was loosed into her destiny.
- Friend, He has already diagnosed your problems.
- He has already prescribed the correct treatment through His Word.
- He has the knowledge that is needed because He knows everything about you, even the things you haven’t told Him or anyone else.
- He has the expertise and the ability to take you to the finish line.
You’ve been given a fresh start….The greatest thing of all is that He has a deep desire to take care of you and see you live a full, complete, long and yes, eternal life.
Would you receive those 2 groups of 4 amazing, life changing words today, and step into a fullness, and completeness that He has waiting for you….”I don’t condemn you” and “Your sins are forgiven”….
Your sins, your failures, your short comings, your bad choices, are all forgiven….
Now get up, and go for it with all you’ve got!!!
