We only have one life to live

Question: Why did the cat change its mind about crossing the road?

I actually saw that happen while driving down Tucumcari’s Lake Street recently. My first thought was the cat had tried crossing unsuccessfully eight times before and decided not to take any more chances when a car was approaching. In this case, the cat had plenty of time before I’d get to the crossing point. Still, perhaps the cat realized it had only one life left to live.

That’s all any of us have, for there’s a (singular) time to be born and a (singular) time to die after which we’ll answer to God for how we’ve lived our earthly life (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2; Hebrews 9:27-28; Titus 2:11-14; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10).

Because God sets the times and dates of our existence, there’s nothing we can do to lengthen or shorten our lives (Psalm 139:13-16; Acts 17:24-27; Matthew 6;27). So, we’re to take the best care we can of ourselves both physically and spiritually (1 Timothy 4:8; Mark 12:28-31; 1 Corinthians 6:20).

God knows when our earthly life will be over and when Jesus will return, but we don’t know the timing of either event (Matthew 24:36-39). Consequently, like having a will or living trust in place, usually with an introduction something like, “In the untimely event of my death,” we’d better be prepared continually for our death or Jesus’ return, both of which may seem untimely, in our opinion, but will be in the perfect timing of God’s eternal and unchanging plans (Acts 17:31; Ephesians 1:3-10; Galatians 4:6-7; Hebrews 6:13-19; John 14:1-6).

For the time being (at least until after our next breath), God waits patiently, allowing each person sufficient time to find him during their allotted time on earth because he doesn’t want anyone to face the eternal consequences for sin (Psalm 39:5; Isaiah 2:22; 2 Peter 3:3-15; Romans 3:23; 6:23). He even had Jesus pay for our sin (1 Peter 1:24; Romans 5:6-11; 6:3-8)!

So, Christians, those who’ve reached out to God on his terms for salvation, have an eternal future to enjoy when Jesus

comes back for us. But even then, we’re to be ready at all times, for Jesus’ return (Matthew 24:42-51).

If you’re not a Christian, you should follow God’s plan for your salvation and eternal future because you never know when you might be blindsided by an untimely event at which time your eternal future will be fixed (Luke 16:19-31).

The time to be born mentioned in Ecclesiastes is related to our physical birth. Jesus said to enter the kingdom of God, we must be born again of water and blood referring to the blood of his sacrifice for our sins and the water of baptism that cleanses us from our sin (John 3:3-6; Hebrews 9:14; Titus 3:3-7; Acts 2:38-39; 1 John 5:8).

If you haven’t been born again according to God’s plan, today is the time to do it to receive God’s grace in salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2; Acts 22:16).

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan who writes about faith for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at [email protected].