Live This Year as If It Is Your Last  

I recently had a little health scare when I found myself experiencing some tightness and pain in my chest area. When it didn’t subside after a day or two, I decided I should probably get it checked out, especially in light of my sister having experienced a heart attack just a few weeks earlier. I am thankful to report that the medical tests didn’t find any problem in connection with my heart. Eventually my wife and I recalled something I had done earlier in the week that could have strained my chest muscles and resulted in my symptoms.

One evening at the height of my discomfort and uncertainty about my health, an unusual thought entered my mind. I looked back at what I had done that day, concluding if I were to die from a heart attack that evening it would have been a good day to have been my last on earth. I had been busy with the work of preparing to share God’s Word with others. I had eaten one of my favorite meals – my wife’s lasagna. And I had enjoyed spending a small part of the day taking a few of my grandchildren to Dairy Queen for ice cream. If it was my time to go, this would have been a good way for me to finish my race.

While we may not like to think about it, none of us know when it might be our last day. As we have begun a new year, it is possible that for some of us this could be our last year. It is more likely for those who are getting well on up there in age, but it could be true of any of us, no matter how old or young we are. None of us know with certainty. With that in mind, we should all seek to come to the end of every day with the sense that if it is our time, that we are ready, we have no regrets, and we have been faithful to run the race God has given us to run.

   When Paul was sensing that his time on this earth was drawing to a close, he expressed the peaceful assurance he possessed as he faced that reality: “The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (II Timothy 4:6-7). If it was Paul’s time to go, he was ready. He had stayed true to the Lord and had faithfully carried out the work he had been given to do.

Can we say that? If this were to be our final year or even our final day on this earth, do we have a similar assurance? Let’s make sure that we have kept the faith – that we are trusting Jesus as our Savior and are living for Him as the Lord of our lives. Let’s be certain that we are fighting the good fight each day – carrying out our God-given responsibilities, resisting temptation and evil, letting our lights shine in a dark world, showing God’s love to others, and sharing His Word with those who need to hear it. And let’s not allow anything to get us distracted from the main things in our lives, from finishing the particular course God has laid out for us to follow. At the end of each day or each year, may we be able to say, “This would be a good way for me to finish my race.”

So let’s live this year as if it could be our last. Follow Jesus. Serve Him and others. Love your family. And even leave a little room along the way for lasagna and ice cream.