When you are outside, breathe out so that you can see your breath. How long does it last? That’s your lifespan.

“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!
Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!”
Ps. 39:5-6

This morning, as I was saying “bye” to my wife who was going out through the garage, I saw a wreath she had bought for her brother’s grave. Today, 12 days before Christmas, as we have done for many years, we are visiting Kevin’s grave to celebrate his life. He was 19 years old when he passed… (That was 20 years ago)

How truly fleeting life is! We foolishly act and plan like we are going to live forever and run around like a chicken with its head cut off following after whatever we think are important, but our life is but a breath. Here one day and gone the next.

Would you do yourself a favor? Take your eye off yourself for a moment and immerse yourself in the human history spanning thousands of years. Have you realized that all of human history is about God redeeming the people to Himself? Starting with Adam and Eve, then to Noah, then to Abraham, then to Moses, then to Gideon, then to David, then to Daniel, then to John the Baptist, etc. God picked one nation, Israel, out of the earth to redeem the entire world to Himself. Jesus Christ was the climax of all of human history. More specifically, His death on the cross was the very focal point of it all. We are at the very tail end of this great saga that is about God and His Son. The war has been fought. Evil is defeated. The beloved has been rescued. And the Hero is carrying His beloved in His arms to His home. That’s where we are. We are being carried home by our Lover.

We are in the 4th quarter with only a few seconds left in the football game and all we have to do is to take the knee because our great Quarterback has won the game for us!

Your life and my life are just a breath.

Look to the one who gave us the breath.

And look at your life in the context of God’s redemptive history.

Do this until you feel very small and God very big…

PH