Dead On Time
“A time to be born, and a time to die...” (Ecclesiastes 3:2a).
As we grow older, we occasionally struggle with accepting wrinkles, aching joints, a failing memory, and glasses. When a Pastor got his first pair of readers a friend (or so he thought) left him a little poem.
“My glasses come in handy,
My hearing aid is fine,
My false teeth are just dandy,
But I sure do miss my mind.”
How are you handling the aging process? Do you have a faith-based optimism about wearing out or are you frequently jaded or even sad? Jeanne Calment was the oldest living human whose age could be verified. On her 120th birthday, she was asked to describe her vision for the future. “Very brief,” she said. Having never married, Jeanne requested no male pallbearers. In her memorial service she left these instructions. “They wouldn’t take me out while I was alive;
I don’t want them to take me out when I’m dead.” Have to love the humor at 120 years of age.
However, Solomon has deeper insight for aging God’s way than “age is a state of mind, learn to laugh it off.” He wants us to get our theology right. You were born at the right moment and will be “dead on time.” Therefore, I must not find my esteem in somehow reversing the trend. Life has been so good to me by God’s great grace. How about you? No one has been blessed more than me with grace in Jesus and grace upon grace in so many ways. So I or we want to cling to life here and rightly so. But we have a poor view of heaven if we want to stay on earth forever.
A friend of mine, my age and dying of cancer, has people frequently ask her if she is angry.
“Why should I be angry?” she asks. “God has been so good to me. Heaven will be even better. I will miss everyone so much but it appears to be my time. Soon we will meet again forever.”
What a contrast to the statement of a girl recently interviewed on You Tube about her reaction to being diagnosed with cancer. “I hit out at everyone in sight! I hadn’t had time to do all I wanted. Mostly I was mad at God.” This young lady seems more settled in her faith now. Please, pray for her with me. Ask Christ to grant her/us this perspective: When you believe in Jesus, you let him wind your watch living time fully for him. When it stops, he gives you a new one with everlasting springs. After all, he has risen! He has risen, indeed!
