This life is so, so short. Why do I forget that?
Any moment now, I could be in eternity.
And, yes, my future is secure. Yes, trusting in Jesus, my sins are forgiven. Yes, in Christ, I have eternal hope (and, if you don’t, believe me, you need it- the stakes are too high to mess around! Judgement is coming, anytime, and there’s only one way to be safe, and it’s by turning from rebellion and putting all your trust in what Jesus did for you on the cross).
No, my salvation is not dependent on what I do. Yes, I have sure and certain eternal hope because my trust is in Jesus. But… this life is so, so short, and I don’t want to waste it! So soon, I will stand before my King in eternity.
We live in a strange, strange world. Much of what we spend our time on is empty: meaningless in the light of what really counts… while over 2 billion still wait to hear His Name even once in their lifetime. At the end of the day, what really matters is Christ: knowing Him, trusting in Him, living every part of life as worship to Him… and helping others to know Him, too.
Time is a vapour. It passes so fast! It feels like only a few moments ago that I was still a teenager. Now my thirtieth birthday looms right around the corner. And I’m more and more conscious that I cannot waste this brief span of life that I have been given.
I wrote this poem a few years ago. It feels like moments ago, but actually it was years. I feel like I could step back to those days… only I can’t. They are gone. And the meaning is more profound with every passing day. Oh, Lord, let us not waste this one precious life You have given!
“Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14 (KJV)
In This Brief Hour
In this brief hour before eternity,
Let me strain every nerve,
For time is fast passing and soon will be over;
The moments are passing on earth.
In this quick half-life of heart-lusts and lies,
Oh, let me have only one goal:
To know and pursue the great God of my life
To live with the Lord as my All.
In the short sprint of this passing day,
Let me not be weighed down with stuff,
But walk in the weighty and run in the lasting,
And live for the Prize of my Love.
In this breath fleeting, with lies so seductive,
So common, may I walk in grace;
Be holding life lightly, pursuing the joy
Of His gaze when I look on His face.
In this quick moment, when souls are still waiting,
May I never fear sacrifice,
But love with a passion that lays down my lifeblood
To bring the lost millions to Christ.
In this brief illusion when all is deceptive
And fleeting, may I walk by faith,
And live in the shade of the Shadow Almighty
And walk in the power of grace.
In this fast passage, when idols are calling,
May I only seek for my Love;
To gaze ever upwards and live in His presence
And live for my Treasure above.
And when, in the morning, I meet my Beloved,
May I never wish I’d done more
But live for the moment when, oh! His voice welcome!
‘Well done, faithful servant. Well done’.
lovedandhis 