As for man, his days are like grass;
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
Psalm 103:15-16

Life is brief! It is oh so brief!

When we are 20, it seems that we will live forever. At age 30: “Well, maybe not quite forever.” At age 40: “Whoa! I’m halfway there!” At age 50, “Time is racing by!” And it just speeds up from there.

Why do we humans, unlike the animals, never quite adjust to the brevity of life? Because we were made for eternity. God has put eternity in our hearts “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

How should we respond to life’s brevity? There is only one solution: Live for eternity. Accept the biblical truth that this world is not home. We were made for the next world not this world. Like Paul, long for the next world. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21).

This means we decide that we will not live for things or money or stuff. We will live for Jesus Christ. We will surrender our life to him. We will love people, not things. We will invest our time and resources in reaching people and loving people. We will live our life for the next world.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote: “Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you will get neither.”