Sunset of My Life

This last Sunday I finished preaching through the book of Ecclesiastes. I found this book contains very deep and insightful thoughts from King Solomon. His wise words forced me ponder and contemplate many areas of my life.

From the last chapter I particularly liked this verse:

"Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near when you will say, 'I have no delight in them.'" Ecclesiastes 12:1

I stumbled across some words from Ronald Reagan's speech on November 5, 1994. He said, "I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life."

The cruel reality of life is that on the day we are born we each begin our journey on the sunset of our lives. Death seems so unfair as we approach it and see it take the lives of those we know. David Jeremiah describes death in a chilling way, "Death is a cousin everyone shares and no one has met; we only know he will get around to see everyone sooner or later.”

God has place eternity in each of our hearts (Ecc. 3:11), ultimately causing us to shudder when eternity is cut short in one's life. I do believe God offers hope to us in the midst of our frailty and helplessness. I am so thankful for Jesus who came to give us eternal life through His death, burial, and resurrection (John 3:16, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

As I reflect on my study of Ecclesiastes, I believe the message of the book is to keep God in the forefront of my life in all things today, this day, the day He has given me. In doing so, I will order my life in a manner that is pleasing to God and ultimately providing me with the satisfaction that Mic Jagger is desperately searching for, but failing to find.

I ending my message with the chorus from the song "I Walk the Line" by Johnny Cash:

I keep a close watch on this heart of mine
I keep my eyes wide open all the time
I keep the ends out for the tie that binds
Because you're mine, I walk the line

Our habit is to "walk the line" for God in order to earn favor from God--this is a futile exercise because we simply cannot. But when we realize all that God has done for us in our inability, and we believe in Him for eternal life and become His children through faith.

These words from Johnny Cash are quite good. Because Jesus is mine, I keep a close watch on my heart, I keep my eyes open (because evil is everywhere, Eph. 5:15-16), because Jesus is mine...I walk the line!

Are you walking the line?