THE
CARIBBEAN PIONEER
At the Lord's Table
Be Proactive as We Number Our Days
(Exhortation - December 2004)
Every so often your mind
starts to wander and you think…everyday that goes by I get closer
to the time when the breath of life is going to leave my mortal body.
Tomorrow I will be one day closer to when I will be lowered in the grave
to await the coming Christ.
What is life and death?
What is life then? A vapor, a shadow that passes swiftly and then is gone.
Or maybe it’s like the life cycle of a leaf which grows in the spring,
flourishes in the summer, and gets swept away in the fall. If our hope
was this bleak how would we live our lives? But those who die in Christ
are not forgotten and are not swept away like a leaf.
Knowing that mortality leads to the grave, we are presented with a question.
Can anything be accomplished in the truth when we are in the grave? Of
course not and the Bible makes us quite aware of this.
For he will take nothing with him when he dies, his splendor will not
descend with him. Though while he lived he counted himself blessed and
men praise you when you prosper he will join the generations of his fathers,
who will never see the light of life. A man who has riches without understanding
is like the beasts that perish (Psa. 49:17-20).
We all know many other verses that teach this same thing. Grappling with
the idea that we cannot do everything we want in life is sometimes a challenge.
We are in a constant fight with our desires. The Bible warns us of this
problem in Proverbs 14:12: “There is a way which seems right
to a man, but its end is the way of death.” This fact cannot
be escaped. Without proactive effort, our natural tendency in daily activities
will lead to a never-ending sleep called ‘death’
with no hope of that amazing chance to enter into the Kingdom.
None of this is new to us. We know our calling. We know why we are here.
We know the Lord is returning soon…BUT… will we be ready?
The fulfilled prophecy checklist is becoming more complete. Everything
we read about is unfolding before our eyes.
Learning to be proactive
So we need exhortation, we need motivation, words that will spur us on
to action in better service to the Lord. The word PROACTIVE is a powerful
word. Proactive means, “to be active in advance; anticipating
trends and working to promote their development.” This word
is often used in business situations when developing strategies for the
future. Is proactivity applicable to our spiritual walk in the Lord? I
think it is!
In Luke 19:11-27, we see an example of proactivity in the parable of the
pounds. There we see servants using their God-given gifts and bringing
back more than was initially given to them. They were rewarded for their
efforts. Then there was the procrastinator, someone who was lazy, a person
full of excuses as to why he was not able to improve his gift. He was
not proactive!
The time to be proactive is now
What does this tell us? First, Jesus wants a proactive people for Godly
service. Second, he wants us to be focused, not busybodies. Third, Jesus
wants people who are prepared for his coming – people that will
rejoice to see him in the Kingdom of his Father. And the time to be proactive
is now, brothers and sisters!
The past is gone; the day of our death is unknown. We don’t know
what is going to happen to us an hour from now or 24 hours from now. What
we do know with certainty is that Christ is coming soon, but what are
we doing about that right now? All we have is the present. Taking action
later may result in Jesus telling us, “I never knew you: depart
from me, ye that work iniquity.”
Moses was proactive
The idea of being proactive in the service of the Lord is presented to
us early in the Bible. In Psalm 90, Moses is in prayer and meditation
during his time with the nation of Israel in the wilderness. Look how
it starts: “Lord you have been our dwelling place in all generations.”
What does it mean to dwell with the Lord? This verse has an important
spiritual message to us. Permanent homes are not important for those who
live by faith, as our mind is always on God and His ways. We must be ready
to pick up and leave when called by Jesus when he returns.
In verse 2, Moses is in awe of the power of God and the fact that He is
from everlasting to everlasting left him in awe. Then he goes on to compare
the infinite God to man’s duration on earth with a comparison to
withering grass. Verses 9 to 12 tell us:
All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan. The length of our days is seventy years or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Gaining a heart of wisdom in the Lord can only result in one thing: being proactive in service to Him. Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”
We are supposed to be proactive in service to the Lord, thinking about the commandments when we sit, walk, lie down, and rise up. That covers some of our basic daily functions. This can be used as a benchmark when we examine ourselves before partaking of the bread and wine. Do we meditate on the word of God when we sit, walk, lie down and rise up?
David
was proactive
Let’s consider David because he shared the same feelings as Moses.
Compare and see how David expressed himself in Psalm 39:4 to 6:
Show me, O LORD, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: he bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.
David had come to the same realization as Moses. A sinful life without repentance is a waste of a life and will only lead to one’s destination. When we reflect on David’s life, we realize he was very proactive in service to the LORD. He was a man of war, fighting the enemies of God. In the record of David and Goliath, David shows the type of character that God is looking for in us: people having courage, trusting in God, and being obedient to His will.
The
key to wise living
In conclusion, we see that man’s mortality is obvious. The key to
wise living, which is often ignored, is being able to number our days.
Our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, whom we have come to remember today,
was very effective in numbering his days of mortality. He knew his mission,
he knew what his Father’s plan was and he was very proactive in
carrying it out. In John 5:19 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth,
the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father
doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”
We all are members of one body. Our light is a flame that should be burning brightly for the Lord. Let us make sure we are being proactive in service to Him.
Ian Neblett