Make Your Days Count - Day 113 Month 4-23 Week 17-1

Today's Reading (Bible in 1 year)


Numbers 29, Psalm 90, Jeremiah 9:7-22, Luke 19:45-20:18

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2029%2C%20Psalm%2090%2C%20Jeremiah%209%3A7-22%2C%20Luke%2019%3A45-20%3A18&version=NASB1995

Make Your Days Count

“Three Score and Ten (70).  That’s what you get!”  That’s what I heard often, in the language of the King James Version Bible translation, as I was growing up.  I’m sure my father dealt with undiagnosed depression for many of his older adult years.  I remember him coming home from the doctor one day and saying to my mom, “He (the doctor) says it’s just nerves!”  Unfortunately, “Three score and ten,” also became a prophecy for my dad because he passed away just a few days after his 70th birthday.  One thing my father always talked about, whenever his expectation for his lifespan came up, was the description of how he could hardly wait to be in heaven.  He knew life in heaven will be so superior to life here.


Psalm 90 verse 10 is where my father got his lifespan numbers.  In the translation we are reading it says: “As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years, or if due to strength, eighty years.”  The Psalm continues farther down with “teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.”  I think this prayer of Moses is really not suggesting we count down to the end but that we recognize that physical life on this earth is short.  With that knowledge, it is imperative that we use our time here to its greatest value for God’s kingdom.


Jesus models how we should be living our lives.  We know Jesus laughed and cried and he cared most of all for the lost souls of this world.  He did not have time for those who were just trying to trap Him.  In Luke 20:1-8, he wisely did not fall into a trap of the Pharisees.  Even when He talked with the religious leaders, He was really speaking to those who wanted to really hear.  He was focused on praying (spending many hours in solitude and talking to His heavenly Father - GOD), preaching, loving the lowest in society and healing the sick.  


Jesus had important things to do.  He died and rose from the dead to live again for the benefit of all those who would turn to Him so that they can also live forever with Him.  In Luke 20:17, Jesus repeats a prophecy about Him in Psalm 118:22.  “The Stone which the builders rejected, This became the cornerstone.”  The religious leaders of the day and many of the people of Israel rejected Him, yet Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s kingdom.  Choose that cornerstone today.  Turn to Him


As a young person, I was sad when I heard my dad talk about looking forward to his passing but I have a better understanding of the shortness of life as I just retired recently.  My brother has already surpassed the lifespan of my father and I’m not far behind.  I do pray that I will have accomplished all that is asked of me when I have reached the end of my days here.  In the meantime, I will live my life to its fullest and do my best to love God and love my neighbour along the way.


Have a great day!

Steve

steve.d.pauls@gmail.com


You can subscribe to this blog and receive an email each day or week.  Just visit the following link. https://follow.it/my-faith-view-from-here-daily-readings-and-thoughts?leanpub



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 15 - Week 3 Day1 Let Your Heart Rest

Today's reading Genesis 24:61 - End of 25 Psalms 14 Isaiah 12 - 13:5 Matthew 11 Thought for today (sorry but this is heavy) Today my heart is heavy.  I couldn't sleep well.  I figured that I may as well get up and do my morning reading and blog post.  So much is going on this world!  So much death.  So much war.  I long for what we read about yesterday of the eventual peace that will be in God's Kingdom.  In Psalm 14 from today's reading, we read "The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God."  They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good...They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one. "  This is a Psalm of David, Israel's great king who God describes as a man after His own heart.  I think it's because David always wore his heart on his sleeve.  He was real and you see it in the Psalms he wrote.   My heart is heavy because...
Read more

Day 20 - Week 3 Day 6 The Rock

Today's reading (Bible in 1 Year) - If you have not read my introduction or blog from the beginning, I felt a strong motivation to read the whole Bible in a year and discover something new each day to share. Genesis 30:25 - end of 30 Psalm 18 Isaiah 17 Matthew 13:44 - end of 13 Thought for the day We have rocks!  We live on a rocky shore and our whole property is full of rocks.  You can't dig down more than 6" anywhere on our property and not find a rock.  It's very frustrating when you're trying to dig a garden or plant a tree.  Interesting though, they shift.  Every spring, my mower finds new rock locations.  During the winter freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw (that's how it is here), the rocks in the ground shift again and again.   There is one rock on our property that does not shift!  At the shore we have a lava rock outcropping.  It's goes out about 20 ft and and at high tide, you can touch the water from it. ...
Read more

Day 25 Week 4 Day 4 Green Pastures

Today's reading (Bible in 1 year) Genesis 36 Psalm 23 Isaiah 22:1-14 Matthew 17 Last evening, my wife, Sylvia, read a statement to me from a bishop in the Episcopalian church in New Hampshire.  He advised his Episcopal clergy to get their affairs and wills in order "because it may be that now is no longer the time for statements, but for us with our bodies to stand between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable".  Sometimes, peacemaking puts one in the place where death is a possibility in the protection of the most vulnerable.  It's an ominous thing to think about. Today we read Psalm 23.  What a powerful Psalm to read in it's fullness but hopefully you just read it and I'll simply mention verse 4 where it says " Even though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me " Did you hear that?   You are with me! On November 16, 2025 my mom passed away and went to be with Jesus, 2 days before her 98th birthday.  My mo...
Read more