Man’s fate

Man decays like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten. – Job 13v28

I am far from old in today’s terms. When I was in school men were only expected to live to the age of 65. Now when a baby boy is born he can expect to live about 80 years. Since I have made it to 55 chances are that if I stay healthy and avoid accidents I have at least another 25-30 years to live.

Even with that reprieve I have lived 55 years. Chances are pretty good that I have lived far longer than I will live. My body is showing some of those signs. My back aches. My knees hurt sometimes. I don’t move as quickly as I used to. Weight seems to refuse to drop off now, but it comes on quickly enough. My body is in a state of decay. It is a slow, gradual decay, but nevertheless it is decay.

It is one thing we cannot deny. We are all dying. Kind of depressing isn’t it? But we can’t escape it. Everyone is dying.

Man decays like a rotten thing. He is like a garment that is moth-eaten. His life is like a vapour. He is like a morning flower that appears for a moment, and then vanishes with the morning sun.

We all know that this is true. Despite that we still tend to live like it is not. The vast amount of our energy and resources go into investing in something that is rotting away. It is indeed investing in wood, hay, and stubble.

All the while we let the eternally important things tag along for the ride. They are they, and we pay them lip service, and may even throw a few bob that way now and then.

The stuff we can see grabs our eyes while the stuff we can’t see is ignored. The eternal, unseen stuff is ignored.

Look not on the things that can be seen. Look on the things that cannot be seen. The things we see are temporary. The things we cannot see are eternal.

Sure, we need to take care of our bodies and physical needs so that we can use them for God for those 80 or so years, but instead of lavishing our attention on a ‘rotting thing’ let’s prioritise the important eternal things.