When you hear your doctor say, "you are stage III now but we will know in two weeks if it has spread to your bone and brain," your priorities change. A huge blessing came with those words - a time to prioritize like never before. A time to really think about what is important. I remember telling Mike that I still had so much to do for God. I was a disciple before but now I had a time limit to get His work done. So what is different in you and I or me and the old me? Nothing. None of us have been promised tomorrow - we may not even have tomorrow! There is no greater decision that we will ever make than to have Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. But one thing I decided to do is celebrate my birthdays - every day is a gift and I owe God so much!
1 John 1: 7, "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." Walking in the light - present tense as Jesus is in the light - present tense - Jesus will purify us - present tense. Our present walk with Jesus is most important because we may not have another moment.
When we have mile markers, such as birthdays, they force us to stop long enough to measure where we are and what we are doing. Often times when we see how fast life goes we start realizing we want to spend our time wisely and for God. Yet I’ve come to realize that there is something important about having mile markers in life. Things like family become more important. How we spend our money shows us where our priorities are. And sharing the Good News becomes a more pressing priority.
Birthdays can help us remember that year by year we are closer to our final destination and not in a negative way. Everyone dies - it is part of living. It is time to realize that the thing of most value is what we do for eternity. For ours and for other's eternity. Mile markers remind of us how close heaven is and how all of the other "stuff" does not matter. We need to be using our time, talents, gifts, energy, money, etc for the cause of Jesus. This will result in heavenly rewards!
God welcomes about 353,000 babies into the world every day—and every day He wishes hundreds of thousands of His children already born, “Happy Birthday!” It’s easy to imagine a continuous, glorious birthday party celebration in Heaven proclaiming miracle after miracle after miracle. Of the 7.4 billion people who inhabit the Earth, every one is a gift from God. We all have the potential to make the world a better place through Jesus Christ. We all have a responsibility to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
King Solomon had a vast kingdom with all that he needed and more. However, he thought it was all "vanity". Ecclesiastes 1: 2, "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.'” Ecclesiastes 8: 15, "So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun." God gave us the gift of life and wants us to have it abundantly.
Thank God for birthdays! They remind us that life is short and heaven is near!