Are you just Rover on two legs?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:6

TO CHEW ON: “I said in my heart, ‘Concerning the conditions of the sons of men, God tests them, that they may see that they themselves are like animals.’

For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them; as one dies, so does the other…” Ecclesiastes 3:18-19

There is nothing so humiliating as the reminder of our human frailty caused by accident or sickness.

Accidents can snuff out a life in a minute whether the victim is young or old. Our 20-something son fell one story off a roof onto concrete last summer. Though he has made a great recovery, the smell of death’s breath has changed even his youthful optimism about immortality and invincibility.

Right now I know about a dozen people who have cancer. When the doctor makes that diagnosis a lot of things don’t seem as important as they did before. The c-word reminds us all – those involved and those looking on – of our mortality.

In this passage the cynical old Preacher argues that we humans are really only just animals, destined to return to dust. If this was the sum-total of what the Bible said about death, it would be a gloomy picture. But it isn’t. Humans may be like the animals physically but we also have a spiritual side which, the Bible tells us over and over, lives on.

If you are experiencing the humiliation of a body in the process of returning to dust, know that it is not the end. Take heart: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Read more…

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to live each day with eternity in mind.

MORE:

“Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever. The deeds of this life are the destiny of the next. … Years ago a popular slogan encouraged people to live each day as ‘the first day of the rest of your life.’ Actually, it would be wiser to live each day as it if were the last day of your life. Matthew Henry said, ‘It ought to be the business of every day to prepare for our final day.’”
- Rick Warren, The Purpose Driven Life – p. 40