By Kim Sechler

Our days are pointers. They are pointing to something beyond the here and now. We weren’t made for just the here and now. I have lived over 25,000 days and I won’t live another 25,000. Those days are gone. I don’t know how much of an impact I have made on the people closest to me. I know I have made an impact, but don’t know what kind and the depth of it. Kind of a scary thought and I don’t linger long there because it scares me.

The wisest man (apart from Christ) who ever lived was Solomon. He tells us in his quest for truth, happiness and meaning to his earthly existence what he discovered. I find myself drawn to his words once again. He penned his words in his book, Ecclesiastes.

He was extremely wise and very wealthy. He didn’t have to worry about the IRS; he owned it. Solomon didn’t have to worry about bank bailouts or stimulus packages. He had everything at his fingertips. He had the bucks to experience any adventure, pleasure, satisfy any appetite or desire and he did. No restraints. He wasted no expense. He lived by what his senses told him was real. He was a restless man. He lived life by his eyes. His conclusion: Life lived under the sun is meaningless, chasing after the wind, empty or useless.

When I live life strictly from a horizontal plane without a vertical filter then I draw the same conclusion that living under the sun is empty; a chasing after the wind. If the answer isn’t “under the sun” then it must be “above the sun” where God dwells. The One who put eternity in our hearts.

Life indeed is brief and it matters how I live my days. I will be evaluated by how well I love or don’t love those God brings into my life. Since life is brief, I need to learn to love well. I don’t love as well as I could or ought to. Ask my wife or kids. On second thought, skip that assignment. It would make me feel bad. Only by Christ’s enablement am I able to love like I ought.

When I let my story fit into God’s story then I find out that He changes the ending of my story. I will reside with Him and not apart from Him when I depart from this brief life.

If you had 25,000 days how would you live them? Remember, you will soon be gone.  

Kim Sechler is a pastor at Green Bay Community Church