Time is a huge, irrepressible sphere, rolling down the incline of life. From the time we are born until about age nine, it means very little to us except when we're waiting for Mom to come home from a long shopping trip or for Christmas and Santa to finally come. At age ten, we want to get behind the sphere and push it faster because we can't wait to be grown up. At age eighteen to twenty-five, we're pretty impervious to time. The world is our oyster. We are concerned with higher education, finding a job, a nice car, a spouse, and a home. Time hasn't even etched his signature into our faces. We are indestructible. At age thirty, time begins to weigh upon us, press against us. If we haven't found the perfect mate yet, we feel a definite urgency. We begin to feel that time could be our enemy. From thirty to forty, we coexist, being too busy with children, soccer games, Little League and the bothersome boss to really fret about the ever-grinding sphere. At forty, there is no doubt that we are in a battle and that we are losing. Still feeling somewhat bullet proof, we rationalize and deceive ourselves by embracing the phrase that " life begins at forty". At fifty, we know for sure that life didn't begin at forty. It began the day we were born and we can now feel in our bones every fall, knock and tumble that we have had over the years. We wonder if there is some way to slow down the descent of the ever-pressing sphere. At age sixty, we know our way to the sphere and the incline, remembering the trip years ago when we were pushing it downhill, though we can't for the life of us remember why. We take a firm position in front of the sphere and strain against it with all our might, trying to reverse it or at least slow it down. At seventy, we see the truth of God's word regarding "three score and ten". We know that the stairs they make these days are a lot steeper than the ones they used to make and that the food is so much spicier than it used to be. Aspirin, Advil, Tylenol and Mylanta are constant companions and our car could find it's way to the doctor's office by itself. We firmly embrace Psalms 71:18 which says, "Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to everyone that is to come". Those of us who have asked God to save us, believing that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that He was raised from the dead, now realize that the aches, pains, and trips to the doctor is God's way of weaning us away from this world. Having God's peace in our hearts, a peace that passes understanding, we can only say "even so Lord, come quickly". If you haven't asked Jesus to save you, do it today! Your ETD date is firmly cast in stone on the unrelenting sphere and it could be any day now
Gene Monk © 2004 Bible Center Church Back To Main Page / Archive of Previous Articles