January 14, 2022
I turned 46 on Wednesday. It was a great day celebrating with my family the kindness of God to me this past year. Thank you to everyone who reached out with happy birthday wishes! But being a pastor, and thus being in the presence of so much death over the past 19 years, has taught me that birthdays are also an opportunity to reflect soberly on the brevity of life. We absolutely should rejoice in the goodness of God who has sustained us another year, but we should also remember that "as for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years, yet their pride is but labor and sorrow; for soon it is gone and we fly away" (Psalm 90:10). God wants us to number our days in this manner, so that "we may present to [Him] a hear of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). Psalm 90 and Psalm 39 are psalms I aim to read on my birthday each year - both contain prayers that frail creatures of dust ought to pray regularly. "Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am. Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath" (Psalm 39:4-5).
Several thoughts along these lines came to my mind on Wednesday.
First, I realized that when my dad turned 46, I was 22. It feels like just yesterday that I was 22. How would I have responded to and thought about my dad differently when I was 22 if I knew then what I know now about being 46?
Second, I learned about a 48 year old in Baton Rouge who had just died of colon cancer. What if I had only two years left to live? That is possible - and so may the Lord enable me to make the most of my days, redeeming whatever time he gives me.
Third, assuming that the Lord allows me to work until I "retire" (age 67 for full benefits per the SSA), that means I have around twenty-one years left of working full time. So even if I live out a normal working career, that's not much time left to serve the Lord and His people, though it's enough time for a lot of things (good and bad) to happen! How will I spend these next years? What impact will I make for Christ and His kingdom? How will the Lord choose to use me? It will be fun (is that the right word???) to see how the Lord's plan unfolds for me and my family from 2022 through 2043 and beyond. I'm thankful that He has me here at Pear Orchard, and pray that I'll be able to serve you as long He keeps me alive.
Fourth, no matter when I die, I'm one year closer to the return of Jesus or to seeing Him in a disembodied existence, free from sin and free from sorrow. Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
As a large part of my calling as your pastor is to prepare you to die well - in the Lord and experiencing the sure and steady confidence and joy of eternal life - I hope that you will take time today (and on your birthday) to remember that "to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21)!
-----------
This coming Sunday morning we celebrate the sacrament of baptism. Take time these next few days to meditate on that wonderful question and answer from the Westminster Larger Catechism #167 - "How is our baptism to be improved by us? The needful but much neglected duty of improving our Baptism, is to be performed by us all our life long, especially in the time of temptation, and when we are present at the administration of it to others; by serious and thankful consideration of the nature of it, and of the ends for which Christ instituted it, the privileges and benefits conferred and sealed thereby, and our solemn vow made therein; by being humbled for our sinful defilement, our falling short of, and walking contrary to, the grace of baptism, and our engagements; by growing up to assurance of pardon of sin, and of all other blessings sealed to us in that sacrament; by drawing strength from the death and resurrection of Christ, into whom we are baptized, for the mortifying of sin, and quickening of grace; and by endeavoring to live by faith, to have our conversation in holiness and righteousness, as those that have therein given up their names to Christ; and to walk in brotherly love, as being baptized by the same Spirit into one body." If you have a copy of the Westminster Larger Catechism, I encourage you to look up the Scripture references that go along with this answer. And if you don't have a Larger Catechism, let me know and I'll give you one!