A Brief Moment In Time

What is life?

A brief moment in time and space in history! Like what Apostle James says, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” How true but also how important!

Just a couple of Sundays ago I attended the funeral service of a former classmate of mine. Thankfully I saw the obituary the night before. So, after preaching in a church that Sunday morning I dashed off to pay my last respects to a dear friend and kampung mate. I was told that he had been to DUMC before with his family but I did not have the joy and blessing of meeting him and his family of four children. The funeral service was conducted very meaningfully by Full Gospel Assembly Kuala Lumpur. I was then asked to pray for the family at the end. Never to miss an opportunity, I seized that occasion to share a few words (several words in fact!) with the family, relatives and friends gathered. I have not seen some of these friends from my hometown for some 50 years. Let me share briefly a slightly edited version of what I said. It was not just relevant for the people then but it is equally important for us all to ponder over in every season of our life.

As I bid goodbye to my friend, there are three crucial things I reflected upon.

Firstly, at such a time it reminds all of us about mortality in life. We are all mortal beings with a limited shelf-life. There is a beginning and an end. No one lives forever. Whether we are a prince or a pauper, a soldier or a statesman, death levels all of us one day, some day. The Bible says, “The length of our days is seventy years – or eighty, if we have the strength…” (Psalm 90:10). Because of the advance in medical science some of us may live a bit longer, but not very much longer. Some of course much shorter. Whatever it is it’s not an issue of how long we live but how well we live. Otherwise the life of our Lord Jesus Christ would be something we should all mourn about. But no! His 33 years turned the world upside down or rather right-side up. That is why it is important that we should all confront this reality in life. There is a mortality of life we must all face honestly.

Secondly, there is the brevity of life. In a twinkling of a moment 68 years of my friend’s life was over. I still remember playing baseball with him during schooldays and he was a really solid and strong player. He could hit the ball further than anyone of us could and whenever he was batting those of us who happened to be on the other team will have to take many steps backwards to retrieve the ball. Such was the strength of the man. 68 years of life may seem reasonably long but it is really short in the light of eternity. In fact, a speck in the whole of eternity. Though so tiny and insignificant we are amazingly made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). We carry God’s creativity and God’s glory (cf. Psalm 8:5). How we handle this image of God in us in this brief moment of time is so critical for all of life and eternity. In fact, God has set this sense of eternity in our hearts to which we must all really think about and respond to (cf. Ecclesiastes 3:11). In other words, life is short and time is precious.

Thirdly and finally, as we ponder on the mortality and brevity of life, this must surely propel us to focus on the urgency of life. The huge majority of us gathered there that afternoon at the funeral service were all in our sixties and seventies. The runway of life left for many of us is so much shorter than the runway we have covered. Hence, we must pause at such a time to examine the meaning of life because as Socrates, one of the greatest Greek philosophers, says, “An unexamined life is not worth living.” So, we must ask the big questions of life like: “What is the meaning of life? Why am I here and where am I going? What is truth (if there is) and where is it to be found?” Without confronting the purpose of life and the destiny in life we will just be floating along on auto-cruise and may just miss the point in life altogether sadly.

Truth is not a set of beliefs or doctrines but is found in a person, the Person of Jesus Christ who says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). So, when we know Jesus we know the truth and have the truth. We will then discover our purpose and destiny in life in the process. What a revelation and a deal! This is what Jesus comes to offer: eternal life which starts right here when we commit our life to Him. What a bargain and a blessing!

Now that we have, by the grace of God, discovered the truth in Jesus we must with equal urgency share this Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ with as many people as possible. With our good old friends, neighbours, colleagues, classmates and loved ones.

Our passion for the glory of God, which every Christian should have, must be equally reflected in our burden for the lost because in a brief moment of time everything shall be over for all of us too. May we have the joy, blessing and privilege of bringing as many along with us as possible to heaven so that together we may celebrate and enjoy the glories of heaven.