If I could capsulize life in my 50s, it might sound like this: “Gee, I wish I’d learned this lesson thirty years ago: [fill in the blank].” Life itself is a great teacher—the tough lessons tend to be the most impacting—and the godly wisdom that deepens with age is simultaneously revealing, liberating, and humbling. Yet early into my 60s came another realization along the maturation process, a far different one, and that is this: even if I live well into my 80s, I am on life’s last lap and can glimpse the tape fluttering at the finish line ahead. Though sobering, this heightened awareness is not a bad thing; think of it as the bell announcing the last lap of a distance race—it focuses us on our destiny and inspires us to dig deep and finish strong. Moses appealed to God through psalm, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”1 Amen, Moses, we need the perspective of finality.
Reaching the bell lap of a race, one realizes that each stride—each calendar page—counts. It’s not that our days grow more important as we grow older, rather as they become fewer, we begin to understand what has been true all along—our lives have Kingdom purpose, and each day dawns with a fresh call to meaningful action. Our obedience, in turn, bears eternal Kingdom fruit—souls saved, needs met, offenses forgiven, hurts healed, and spirits lifted. So, recalling the psalter, the writer of the Hebrews epistle exhorts us, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”2 Offer them, instead, for God’s glory: “Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness,”3 wrote Paul.
Younger believers, though the finish line seems so far away, almost conceptual, keep striding in commitment; it will become clearer, as will your understanding, as you stride toward it. And older believers, consider this as you muster your kick, the final sprint of your last lap: the victory lap awaits.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:1-2
Father, direct our gaze to the finish line, that we would comprehend the importance of every day. Show us what You would have us do today, and bless us as we go. In Christ we pray. Amen.
1 Psalm 90:12 NIV
2 Hebrews 4:7 (cf Psalm 95:7-8)
3 Romans 6:13
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Paul Nordman—Author 