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| Volume 18 Number 2 February 2016 | Page 3 |
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| Volume 18 Number 2 February 2016 | Page 3 |
Russ Vickers
Many years ago, scientists believed that the vertebrate with the shortest lifespan was the turquoise killifish. This fish is very small and lives in seasonal rain pools in equatorial Africa, and it must complete its lifecycle in 12 weeks before the pools evaporate for the year. Not much time for a life, is it?
More recently, researchers from James Cook University in Australia discovered that the pygmy goby has a lifespan that is even shorter than that. You might say that this fish “lives fast and dies young.” This little fish (about the size of your thumbnail) lives in coral reefs for an average of almost 60 days. Fortunately, it has a rapid reproductive cycle that is designed to help it avoid extinction.
Our lives seem to go by so fast. Even to those who live to be 100, it seems like childhood was just yesterday. One of the questions that philosophers of old asked was, “What is the point of a life that goes so fast and ends so quickly?” One of the wisest men who ever lived, Solomon, the third king of Israel, wandered from God. He became spiritually disoriented; Solomon lost his sense of direction and purpose in life. He looked upon all his many accomplishments and found them to be worthless, until he remembered God.
Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” He forgot that we live not merely for ourselves but for the honor and glory of God who made us for the purpose of worshipping and loving Him forever.
It’s good to have many birthdays and to live a full, long life. Yet, the number of days is not as significant as how we lived them in the eyes of God; that is what is really important. Yes, life is short (James 4:14), so live for the Redeemer!
[Editor's Note: In other words, each soul needs to ask himself or herself, "What really matters?" Jesus essentially answered that question in Matthew 6:33-34 when He said, "…seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…" ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
Have You Read the Instructions?
Thomas Baxley
Have you ever put something together wrong because you didn’t read the instructions? Have you ever failed an assignment because you didn’t read the syllabus? Have you ever lost a game because you didn’t know the rules: either you broke a rule or your opponent took advantage of a rule you didn’t know about? How many of life’s problems, big and little, could be solved if we just took the time to read the instructions? There might be times in this life when we can get away with not reading them, but in preparation for the next life we cannot. God has provided us a written revelation of His will for us and what we need to do to be in fellowship with Him. The only way we can know what it takes is for us to take the time and read His instruction book – the Bible.