“O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am! Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!” (Psalm 39:4-5).
I was 19 years old when the Lord granted me the gift of repentance – through God the Holy Spirit. I exercised faith to accept Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. My life turned inside out. My name and appearance did not change much, but everything else about me changed. I was different than I had been a year or two before my conversion.
I don’t mean re-inverting or recreating myself—that often happens when people go to university or move to a different city. They rebrand themselves with new nicknames and personalities. I mean, something significant and life-defining occurred on the inside of me. I became a Christian. I felt alive and brand new. I felt so good my joy was contagious, and I would announce it to anyone who would listen, especially my close friends and family.
People responded differently to my conversion and the new life in Christ – some with joy and others with resistance. One conversation has always remained with me to this day. I was talking to an older man from my country of origin, for whom I had profound respect and admiration. I was so thrilled I began telling him about my new life in Christ and how I would honour God with my lifestyle, precisely by my sexual purity. I was so excited, and it was so hard to hold it. As the words kept rolling out of my mouth, I began to sense that he wasn’t excited about it as I was. He tried listening calmly and collectively, but his facial expression said otherwise. He seemed halfway amused and appeared concerned for me.
As the conversation carried on, he asked me a question. “Why are you taking life so seriously?’ Why are you trying to do everything right? You are a young man: around this age, this is when you mess up, make mistakes, and that’s life. This is the time you need to enjoy yourself, learn from the mistakes you make along the way and then get serious when you are much older.”
I was shocked! Some people might have taken that advice as the right thing to do, but honestly, that didn’t sit well with me. The advice was constraining and misleading. I knew what he had recommended me to do was wrong, but I was a new Christian, and I couldn’t quite understand what he said. I thought about what he had spoken for a long time, but I think it turned my enthusiasm to another level instead of dampening my zeal and passion for my life in Christ.
I did not know much then but I knew I could not just sit around and wait. I had to embrace my new identity in Christ and live. As the Psalmist alludes to in our opening verse, all human existence is a mere breath. These scriptural verses remind us of how brief our lives are. With the current medical advancements; we are tempted to think or assume that the average human life span is quite long; but before God, as the Psalmist describes, it is a mere breath. This reality should offer a chance to pause and ask what we are doing with the time God has given us.
Getting up in the morning is my least favourite part of the day. This has nothing to do with me not appreciating the new day with the opportunities it offers or brings; just getting out of bed never seems appealing. When it’s 11 pm, and I’m working the next day, getting into bed is just an ordinary part of my day – no fuss needed. But when it’s 5 am, staying in bed for an extra minute is like winning the lottery. If you were to look at my phone, you would sadly see that I have about five alarms set within five to ten minutes of each other, starting just before 5 am. I have convinced myself that I will get up after the 4th alarm.
While at university, getting out of bed was like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with weary legs. I would tell myself all kinds of things, like, “Yes, right, you should go to lectures, but is that lecture worth it?” or “I have been late to most lectures for the last month, but what’s another day?” Or I could take some notes from the power point at home, or I will take some notes from a friend. This is shocking, I know. I refer to this as my morning logic. I told myself this lie for years – that staying in bed and not doing anything at all was good for me. Somehow an extra hour or thirty minutes would improve my life. When I woke up, this seemed foolish, but it made perfect sense at that moment, and that was my morning logic.
Imagine a world where nobody got up in the morning until they felt like it. All businesses would crumble, schools would suffer, and hospitals would be a nightmare. The government would be more chaotic than it currently is. Not a single person would have the time to do their jobs well; by the time we all woke up, half the day would be gone.
The reality is that no matter what time we decide to wake up in the morning from our slumber, we only have twenty-four hours to work with. Setting several alarms and hitting the snooze button do not buy us extra time. Our work just won’t get completed. Sadly, many of us today have adopted the morning logic as the way to live. We sometimes refer to it as procrastination: The feeling of not wanting to do something, so we decide to put it off later. We do it with trivial things, like emptying the bins, studying for an exam, replying to work emails or returning messages or phone calls from our friends and loved ones. But procrastination does not solve anything, so delaying tasks until the last minute is unwise.
Looking at our contemporary culture, not much is expected from younger people until they are older. (Old carries various definitions; I will let you define it for yourself). According to many, adolescence and early 20s are not the time for great responsibility or expectation. I have heard it said, “You will bear burdens of responsibility for the rest of your life, so while you are young and free, enjoy your youth while you can”.
People seem not to expect young people to take life seriously until we reach that magical age – the arbitrary age of greater responsibility. Is at eighteen, twenty-one or is at thirty? I guess nobody knows – your guess would be as good as mine. Over the years, I have listened to and read books from several theologians and philosophers, and I have always loved Dr Sproul’s writings and lectures. One of his favourite talks is titled: “Right now counts forever”. This title and statement bring the two realities into focus,” the present” and” the future”, offering us significant meaning to our mere lives as the Psalmist describes. What we do right now is vital and pivotal; it bears eternal consequences. No matter how brief our lives are, we must always remind ourselves of this crucial point Scripture makes.
What we do right now is vital and pivotal; it bears eternal consequences.
I remember having a conversation with a waiter in our local supermarket. He wasn’t much younger than me, probably in his late twenties. He was friendly from the start of the conversion. We ended up having an enjoyable conversation. I asked the usual small talk question like where you are from and so on. He politely responded to all my questions. He told me he had only lived in our village for a few months. Before that, he lived in Newcastle; before that, he lived in Glasgow; and before that, he lived in Manchester. Sarcastically, I began thinking to myself how I would describe him to the law enforcers, just in case he was a criminal of some sort.
He was clearly sold out on the morning logic (Procrastination). I asked him why he moved around so much. He responded, “I don’t want to stay in one place and take on many responsibilities. I’m young, man. It’s my time to explore and not be tied to one place with many commitments. Who knows, maybe I will find myself.” I was sad to hear his response, but I was not surprised.
There is nothing wrong about moving to various places in quest of self-discovery, but is there a time in our twenties or adolescence when life does not really matter? Should we hold off all convictions, commitments, and seriousness until we are much older? Most secular music will carry this same message. I heard a song a while back that captured this mentality perfectly. The lyrics said, “We’re happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same.” The singer is Taylor Swift. I know that criticizing and analysing famous artists does not sit well with many people in our culture. But I’m willing to take the risk and examine what she says in her song “22”.
I know it’s meant to be a fun song, so I don’t want to over-analyse it. She has captured her listeners’ feelings and the spirit of this age. But I could argue that perspective is altogether wrong. To feel “22”, she says in the song, is celebrating the kind of carefree, light, and easy life that many young adults dreamed about. Sadly, the piece suggests this happiness and freedom are found in confused, sometimes miserable self-discovery quests. There’s no direction, no responsibility or conviction, just chaotic fun. Sounds familiar, right? It’s morning logic all over again. Nobody has the time for life when you feel twenty-two. Taylor Swift did not come up with this perspective; we have been sold this logic repeatedly in many forms.
Whether or not the morning logic is trustworthy depends on who we are and what we were created for. If we were only made for self-satisfaction and enjoyment, then putting real life off until later may be your best choice. That young waiter’s logic would seem convincing if you are nothing more than another person looking out for yourself. You can wait until to wake up when it suits you. But what if you were created for more?
Our lives will count forever. How can we make our lives count forever? There’s only one way: to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. This might sound simple and trite, but it is nevertheless true. How do we follow the Lord Jesus Christ? In Luke Chapter 9, verse 23, our Lord says,
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”
In this verse’s setting, Our Lord calls His followers to live differently. Not the way of the world but to follow and live according to His way, the way of the cross. While the world also recognizes that life is short. It says to enjoy life as much as possible before it passes away. But Jesus calls us to live in a way that will build His kingdom by seeking kingdom priorities and goals.
We must live in a way that exalts Jesus Christ and works toward furthering His kingdom. Whether great or small, everything we do should reflect our commitment to following Jesus Christ and building His kingdom. This may sound daunting, but thankfully, we have been given the Holy Spirit to help us. Because of the gracious work of the Spirit in and through us, we can make right now count forever.
