916 Where's Your Gusto?

Death is inevitable. You are dying. All your life, you’ve been progressing toward the end of your journey here on Earth. Oh we don’t like to think about it, but it’s one of the undeniable truths that unites us all; You will not make it out of this alive. Your end will come. Your life will be over and nothing more than memories and photos will remain. Why do we receive this truth with such hesitation? Why do we refuse to talk about it? Why do we make our choices and live our days as if we have an unlimited amount of time to do what we want and need to do? Life is so precious. It is so fragile. And it is so temporary. James 4:14 “The reality is you have no idea where your life will take you tomorrow. You are like a mist that appears one moment and then vanishes another.” If God thought it was best for you to live this life forever with no threat or concern of it ending, then that’s exactly what he would have done. But he didn’t, He made your body’s lifetime limited. Why is that? Why would God in all of his power, with his abundant over-flowing nature, with all his creativity and love of life, why would he limit the life span he gives you here? Have you ever thought about that? Why would an unlimited God limit your days of life? Why would he predetermine an allotted number of days for you here, and in the grand scheme of how long this world has been turning, make them so darn short? Could it be because God knows our human nature? Could it be because he knows we will get lost in the guarantee of limitless time and live our days in meaningless ways? Could the limit on our days be to spur us on, not hold us back? YES! Our days are numbered so that they are savored. Our time is limited so it is actually used. When you go on vacation for 7 days, you want to do all the things in those 7 days, right? You want to eat all the delicious foods, you want to see all the beautiful sights, you want to do all the exciting things. You pack so much living into that week because you know the week will come and the week will go, then it’s over. So you show up and you live, truly live! Could you treat this short life of yours with that same delight and intention? Oh what if you woke up every day knowing this is almost over, not from fear, but of intention to live all you can live while you’re here. I believe this is exactly why our unlimited God put a limit on our life span. It’s to wake us up, keep us focused, and give us purpose. Ecclesiastes 7: 9-10 (MSG): Seize life! Eat bread with gusto, Drink wine with a robust heart. Oh yes—God takes pleasure in your pleasure! Dress festively every morning. Don’t skimp on colors and scarves. Relish life with the spouse you love Each and every day of your precarious life. Each day is God’s gift. It’s all you get in exchange For the hard work of staying alive. Make the most of each one! Whatever turns up, grab it and do it. And heartily! This is your last and only chance at it, For there’s neither work to do nor thoughts to think In the company of the dead, where you’re most certainly headed. What would it look like to seize life today? To seize something means to show up for it and grab it. Grab every opportunity to live and do all you can with it. But we don’t. Darn it, we don’t. We just go through the motions. We wake up to the sound of the alarm with the first thought of “not already!” We put on clothes we don’t really love to do things that we don’t really like. We eat our food without even tasting it. We skim the top of what is being offered and never dive all the way in to this one life we have been given. And then at the end of the day we don’t even remember how we spent our hours. Life becomes a blur. A blur of lists and obligations,