Lifetime!

We are all given one lifetime to discover our calling and purpose from God and move in that calling and purpose to please Him.  Unfortunately, many never do find their God-given purpose and waste a lifetime serving self rather than serving God. 

     And when the end of life comes, and the Creator says, “Now is the time to come home,” we can look over our lives and say either one of two things:

Thank you, Jesus,

 I have not wasted time down here

but have finished what you have given me to do; or

Jesus,

I'm sorry I didn't do what you asked

and spent time on things without lasting value.

The Psalmist says,

“Lord make me to know my end,

 and

what is the extent of my days,

 let me know

how transient I am.

  (Psalm 39:4)

We should ask the Lord,

 What is my ordained purpose?

 How long do I have to accomplish this purpose? and,

Show me just how short my lifetime is here on earth?

          The seriousness of these three questions is underscored by the Psalmist statement, “…make me know.”  When God is speaking through the Psalmist, He is speaking to everyone who reads what the Psalmist wrote – “make me to know.” 

          He is desperate and longing to know his purpose realizing that life is just one breath in God’s moment of created time.  Life is brief, a fleeting moment beside eternity.  

 The heart can beat millions or billions of times in a lifetime, but to God, it can only be one beat and then its over.

          In the next verse, the Psalmist drives this point home to us:

Behold you have made

 my days as handbreadths,

 and

 my lifetime as nothing in your sight.

  Surely every man at his best is mere breath.

 (Psalm 39:5)

Job said the same thing,

“…for my days are but a breath.

  (Job 7:16)

Oh, my Jesus, reveal to us the fleeting moment of our life in view of your eternal existence and do not let us escape into wasting the preciousness of what your Holy Spirit desires to do in us.

 We know He grieves when we walk away from You, our Lord and Savior, and You rejoice when we daily hunger and seek after you.

Both the Psalmist and Job remark on the shortness of life in their writings:  

Man is like a breath,

 like a passing shadow (Psalm 144:4),

 lighter than a breath (Psalm 62:9),

 and

 he flees like a shadow and does not remain.

 (Job 14:2)

Reading the above verses moves me to tears to approach the Lord and say:  

“O my Lord, make me to know my end. 

Use me for your glory and shape

 and

mold me for your eternal call and purpose.

 As a mere breath and shadow,

I desire to serve you with my whole heart. 

Thank you for giving me your breath of life.”

          Brother and sister, if you do not know your ordained calling, ask Him to make it known to you now.  He will tell you.  Then ask Him to move you in that calling.  Remember you are only one breath and one heartbeat of fulfilling your destiny in Him. 

Rich Arnold

Servant of the Lord

311 Adelaide Ave SW

Hartville, Ohio 44632

330-704-9306

richarnold3@gmail.com