DOING SOMETHING WITH THE DASH

     We get used to status quo, the same old same old. Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, and months turn into years, and so on.

     There is an old, but humorous adage. “Men know they’re getting old when their chests fall into their drawers. Women know they’re getting old when their bra fits better when it’s put on backwards.” Men and woman have only to look in the mirror to see how time has taken its toll. We live in the age of skin creams, face-lifts, and a million exercise regimens. We live in the age of cryogenics. Some well-meaning, scientific fool came up with the idea. A famous ball player’s family fought over the option of “putting him on ice.”

    When we consider the theory of “freezing” closely, we can see a close parallel between the secular notion of cryogenics, and the spiritual reality of life eternal. John 3:16 comes to mind.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (KJV)

      But in spite of this promise, we are guaranteed a date with destiny; our own individual date with destiny.

      Hebrews 9:27 assures us, “It is appointed unto man once to die.” (KJV) That is the only entrance into eternal life. We must die. And no wrapping of a body in “tin foil” and submerging it in liquid nitrogen can suffice for the atoning blood of Christ.

     There was a king who hired a servant. The servant had only one task, a task deemed so important that it was his singular task. The deed literally required but ten seconds per day. The other twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes and fifty seconds were his to do with, as he wished. I told you it was a singular task!

     At a given hour the servant approached the king, and at that instant a hush always fell over the courtiers and hand maidens. The servant bowed in greeting, and with a loud voice uttered the following words; “Remember, Oh King, one day you must die.” This daily visitation kept the king in focus. All the good he had to do had to be done over the course of a few short years.

     We look at a tombstone and notice two dates, and a dash in between. There is the date of birth and the date of death, and the dash in between. Some wise person, name unknown, mused about the layout of a tombstone. There could not have been a more fitting observation… “Two dates and a dash. When it comes down to it, it’s all about what we do with the dash.” That dash represents the life we live before the hour of our “visitation.” 

     Solomon, in his wisdom, mused, “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens.” (Eccl. 3:1, KJV) Yes, we get used to status quo, to periods of quiet, calm and peace. But nothing remains the same; it can’t. Death overtakes each one of us. That anonymous person had it right on…

     “It’s all about what we do with the dash.”

by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "Unconventional Devotions" Copyright 2005.

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