Misao Okawa officially became the world's oldest living person this week and this is what she had to say about how she felt after living 117 years: "It seemed rather short." Ms. Okawa understands something about human life, regardless of how long one lives, as James 4:14 tells us, our lives are but a vanishing mist. Death comes for everyone old, young, rich, poor, good, evil. It is an inescapable truth. So even at 117 years, when you are facing the end, you begin to realize that life moves so quickly.
This leads me to consider an eternal God who Peter describes this way: "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8) If this is true, then living for this world and its ephemeral pleasures is a fool's bargain. But the fool doesn't come to this realization until he is sucking in his last breaths of life with eyes of dread and fear, knowing that he is on the wrong side of that bargain. At that point, tragically, it is too late.
This is exactly why these words Paul penned in Romans 8:35-39 are so of the most treasured words in human history:
This leads me to consider an eternal God who Peter describes this way: "But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." (2 Peter 3:8) If this is true, then living for this world and its ephemeral pleasures is a fool's bargain. But the fool doesn't come to this realization until he is sucking in his last breaths of life with eyes of dread and fear, knowing that he is on the wrong side of that bargain. At that point, tragically, it is too late.
This is exactly why these words Paul penned in Romans 8:35-39 are so of the most treasured words in human history:
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.