2 Peter 1:13 I think it is right to refresh your memory as long as I live in the tent of this body.

Since contemporary records tell us that Peter was martyred, this statement by him isn’t quite the same as some greying senior pastor with medical issues. Even so, there is a lot of commonality, since all of us are going to die at some point. The awareness of our mortality should give every one of us a focus on how we’re spending our time here. Young people, not unreasonably, have very little grasp of their own mortality, and so can hardly wait for time to pass. It’s only years later that they look back and realize how foolish they were. Likewise, young parents often fail to savor the time they have with their children, being so busy with what they “have to do” that they miss life itself. We can be so foolish! The fact that we exist on this earth means God has a purpose for us, and that purpose is good, whether we realize it or not. In the case of senior adults, advancing age generally brings diminished physical capabilities, but that in no way negates the reality that God always has productive things for us to do. I well remember one of my aunts, the wife of my mother’s older brother, who was blind and essentially bedridden before she passed in her 90s. When my wife and I visited her in the nursing home where she lived she was complaining to us that God wouldn’t take her home, when she thought she was more than ready. Later in the conversation she told us about one of her grandsons who “almost divorced” but she prayed for him, and the marriage seemed to be healed. I pointed out to her that showed she still had work to do, because being blind and in bed meant she had plenty of time to pray! Everyone has different work to do, but there is always something. Peter here is rightly recognizing that those who had come to Christ through his ministry needed encouragement in their faith, and that was something he could do even at a distance, regardless of his physical situation.

At 76, I am well past the life expectancy of the 1^st Century, but with modern medicine, and being in generally good health, I could well have another 20 years, if the Lord waits that long. My recent bout with a kidney stone was a good reminder to stay focused! I have many advantages over Peter in terms of getting God’s message out, with YouTube and Facebook Live and such. My blog goes out by email to over a thousand people every day, not to mention those who read it on the church Facebook page. However, all of those are meaningless if I’m not using them in obedience to my Lord. If all I’m doing is spouting off my own ideas, it doesn’t benefit anyone! God does want me to enjoy my time here, but if that is my focus, it will quickly become meaningless. As I tell couples in marriage counseling, being focused on your own happiness is self-defeating, but if you seek God in how to bless your spouse, your own happiness can go through the roof! If I focus on what I get out of life it will all be very shallow, but if I focus on what I put into life, I as well as those around me are blessed.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You that Cathy and I were able to visit that lady yesterday. I’m sure we were more blessed than she was, though she seemed very grateful indeed. Thank You for Your plans for today. Help me seek and follow Your schedule every day, so that my time here, however long or short it might be, will be spent as You desire and intend, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!