We’re All Terminally Ill. Do We Live Like It?

This was my Facebook status a few days ago. Seems kind of morbid at first, but let me explain.

I was actually sitting in a meeting with some other managers when someone mentioned that the wife of one of our technical personnel was terminally ill. It got me thinking, I wonder how knowing this impacts his family? I wonder how they are living their lives knowing this important detail. Then it suddenly hit me. In a way, we’re all terminal. Our days on earth are but a blink. We’re really only here on earth for a short period of time.

I Peter 1:24,25 says “For ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you.”

Isaiah 40:6-8 says “A voice says, ‘Cry out.’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ ‘All people are like grass, and all human faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.'”

I don’t think these verses were meant to throw us into a state of depression. I do however think they were meant to remind us that there is one God, and we’re not the one. We will all face death at some point in our lives (and I’m guessing it will come on us sooner than we expected). What kind of legacy will we leave? What in our lives needs to take more of a priority? What relationships do we need to work on with more energy? How should we spend our time? How will we share the reason for our faith? How will we let others know about Christ and about our hope for eternity? These are some of the questions that really matter.

In getting to know people, I like to ask some crazy questions – some call it the famous “Stolpe Hot Seat” questions. One of the questions that I often ask is this, “If you knew that you only had 30 days left to live, what would you do? How would you live your life differently? Would you change anything?”

You see, we’re all terminally ill. Do we live like it?