“Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty… Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (Ps.90:10, 12). “Increasingly encourage one another as you see the Day approaching” (Heb.10:25)
Lord Jesus, “doing the math” isn’t something I’m used to doing, because I came into the world allergic to math. But if you choose to give me the average lifespan on earth, I’ve lived 93% of a “normal” life expectancy—74.4 of 80 years. That’s not a “Debbie Downer,” but a “Scotty Gets ‘Better by Far’”, as Paul wrote in Philippians 1:23. To be absent from this body is to be present with you (2 Cor.5:8).
So if I don’t live to see an 80th birthday, or if I’m here well beyond, “there is no downside for me leaving, not in the slightest” (Tim Keller’s last words a year ago yesterday). All of us will soon realize that whatever we think life beyond this one will be like, you are 10,000 times more beautiful than we can imagine, our “greatness-of-heaven-bar” is laughably low, and our hopes are embarrassingly petite. Indeed, “beyond all we can ask or imagine” (Eph.3:20) isn’t a metaphor, but a mercy.
So until we take our last ordained breath, what will “living in line with the truth of the Gospel” look like (Gal.2:14)? Jesus, make the values of heaven increasingly clear to us. Free us to replace our unquestioned busyness with the rhythms of the Gospel and the pace of grace.
Since “the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love” (Gal.5:6), a “to love list” must take precedent over any fantasy “bucket list.” Intensify our joyful engagement in the spread of the Gospel and the growth of your Kingdom, Jesus—for yours is the only unshakable and lasting kingdom. Shrink our fears, pettiness, and selfishness… as you show us more of yourself. So Very Amen.