Hanningfield Green 

Lawshall 

Bury St Edmunds 

Suffolk 

IP29 4QD 

Just a Thought

A story is told about a skydiving instructor who always took the time to answer all first-timers questions, no matter how foolish the question might be. One guy asked, ‘If our chute doesn’t open and the reserve chute doesn’t open, how long do we have until we hit the ground?’ The instructor smiled and answered, ‘The rest of your life!’ 

That applies to all of us; all we have left is the rest of our life. So what are we doing with it? Moses prayed, ‘Teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom’ (Psalm 90 v 12). Why? Because as James, one of the brothers of Jesus, said, ‘What is our life? It is a vapour that appears for a short time and then vanishes away (James 4 v 14), which those of us who are older have probably come to realize. 

After our life here ‘vanishes away’, then what? ‘Some will rise to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt’ (Daniel 12 v 2). To experience the latter we need only to ignore God for the rest of our life. To experience the former we need to receive His gift of righteousness that He has given in the Lord Jesus through His death and resurrection: ‘Whoever has Him has life; whoever does not have Him does not have life’. (1 John 5 v 12). 

In 2 Corinthians 6 verse 2 we read, ‘Today is the day of salvation.’ A sign in a tree nursery read, ‘The best time to plant a tree was 25 years ago - the second best time is today'. Whatever our past, today is the day to receive Him, so that we can live the rest of our life here, however short or long, with something to look forward to.