The Mystery Of The Future Of Life Series

What does the future hold for us?

One day many years ago, when I was in one of my philosophical modes, I pondered the thought of time.

I realized that the past was gone and the future was waiting and that I was trapped in this moment of time!

I can’t speed it up and I can’t slow it down. I can’t hit rewind or fast forward!

One things for sure, we’re not getting any younger. Time is surely linear.

Someone described the seven stages of man’s life like this: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills, wills.

If you’re going to do something with your life now is the time, now is your window of opportunity.

Ps 39:4-5 says

"Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath." NLT

Someone took the time to do the research for us. If we live to 75…

We will spend 3 years in school (24 hours a day)

7 years eating

14 years working

5 years driving/riding in airplane

5 years talking

1 year recovering from sickness

24 years sleeping

15 years amusing ourselves

Now what if you spent every Sunday of your life (0-75) in church without missing a Sunday. How long will that be?...

5 ½ months! If you came Sunday morning and Wednesday night it would be 11 months.

Our lives are certainly brief and it would seem we would give more of a priority to the One who gave it to us.

In light of the brevity of life, of linear nature of life and of the trappings of time we come to realize that now is our window of opportunity. Here is some advice to take full advantage of our window of opportunity.

1. Now is the time to risk failure (11:1-6)

a. Life is too short to fear failure (Wisdom for economic investments)

i. take some chances (v.1)

ii. be smart and diversify (v.2)

iii. failure will happen (v.3)

iv. don’t be ruled by a fear of failure (vv.4-6)

A Georgia farmer, ragged and barefooted, was standing on the steps of his tumbledown shack.

A stranger stopped for a drink of water and just to pass the time of day he asked: "How is your cotton coming along?" he asked.

"Ain’t got none," replied the farmer.

"Did you plant any?" asked the stranger.

"Nope," was the reply, "afraid of bollweevils."

"Well," continued the stranger, "how is your corn?"

"Didn’t plant none," came the answer, "’fraid there weren’t going to be no rain."

The visitor persevered: "Well, how are your potatoes?"

"Ain’t got none. Scairt - of potato bugs."

"Really, what did you plant?" pressed the stranger.

"Nothin’," was the calm reply, "I jest played safe."

Jeff Strite @sermoncentral.com

2) You’ve failed many times. You fell the first time you walked, you wrecked your bike the first time you tried to ride it, you almost drowned the first time you tried to swim.

2. Now is the time to rejoice freely (11:7-9, 12:1-5)

a. Life is too brief not to enjoy so go for it! (vv.7-9)

i. Enjoy each stage of your life to the fullest

ii. But, let your enthusiasm be tempered by the fact we will face God’s judgment (v.9)

b. Do it before you get too old (12:1-5)

George Burns said you know your getting old when:

The gleam in your eyes is from the sun hitting your bifocals

Your children start to look middle-aged

you sit in a rocking chair but you can’t get it going

the little gray-haired woman you help across the street is your wife

your knees buckle but your belt won’t

And lastly, you know you’re getting older when stoop to tie your shoes and you wonder what else you can do while you’re down there.

ill. A while back an expert on the subject of time management was speaking to a group of business students.

After speaking to them for a while, he said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.” He set a one-gallon, wide mouthed Mason jar on the table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks & carefully placed them, one at a time, inside the jar. When the jar was filled to the top & no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, “Is this jar full?” Everyone in the class said, “Yes.”

“Really?” he said. Then he reached under the table & pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel into the jar & shook it, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks.