Our lives on this earth don’t last forever. Realising our physical existence is so very temporary should strengthen our determination to make each day of our life count and redeem the time that God has given us.

King David knew this very well and wrote in Psalms 103:14-16, “.. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it and it is gone…”. I Chronicles 29:15 also reinforces this concept: “For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding”.

We are all at different stages in our lives, but despite not knowing when we will breathe our last, we can find great assurance that our heavenly Father holds all of our lives in his hand. An awareness of how temporary our life is the key to redeeming our time and focussing on the purpose of our life.

Solomon, a man of abundant wealth, wisdom, power, and fame, came to only one conclusion for the purpose of man during his lifetime. He stated in Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”

Although the years of life are few, and our days as a shadow fading away, we can find comfort in the fact that Jesus assures us that this life is not the end, but just the beginning. He told Martha, before he raised Lazarus from the dead, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” (John 11:25-26).

We must always remember that we can never get back or replace a day that has passed. We are exhorted to use the time we have to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 3:18). King David knew this and wrote in Psalm 90:12, “... teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom” and in Ephesians we are admonished to, “...walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16).