Meandering Monday - Life Is Precious - Martin Wiles

Welcome to Meandering Monday, where we take a trip back to an earlier post and enjoy it again.

If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. Genesis 9:6 NLT

She was a good friend and full of life, but things changed when she took a new job.

Kelly* was my wife’s best friend in high school. Secretly, she wanted to be my girlfriend, but I had eyes for another—my future wife. High school ended, my wife and I married, and different roads took us away from Kelly. We heard that she had entered an abusive marriage and bore several children.

When she finally left her husband, she took a job as a manager of a local fast food restaurant. After closing one night, she met a waiting assailant, who robbed and killed her. A young life needlessly snuffed out. Attending Kelly’s funeral and watching her young body lay in the casket reminded me of how precious life is.

Soon after creation, God gave a command and warning against taking another person’s life. After all, God created us in his image. Therefore, whoever was bold enough to shed another’s blood would have his blood shed by those responsible for upholding the law.

Whether or not a country or state should practice capital punishment isn’t the issue; the sanctity of life is. And since God made us in his image, we are important. Because we are, our lives have value. God doesn’t take it lightly when someone recklessly and unconsciously takes another’s life for personal gain or revenge. Those who do have destroyed one of God’s masterpieces whom he has plans for.

Life is precious. God only gives a certain number of years to enjoy it. When we love and respect others—whether we agree with or even like them—we reflect God’s opinion about life.

God has a plan for every child that comes into this world. Their lives are sacred, and so is God’s purpose. Give value and respect to every person God places in your path.

Prayer: Father, may we respect and cherish what You place so much value on. 

Tweetable: How precious is life to you? 

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Here Today, Gone Today - Martin Wiles

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Hebrews 9:27 NKJV

He was here—and then he wasn’t.

Jack* was my first cousin, eight years my senior. But he had a brother who was the same age as I, and we were good friends. I wished we had lived closer to him so we could have spent more time together, but we got together as often as we could.

Jack and another first cousin loved to aggravate us, but they also taught us how to defend ourselves and how to hunt. Jack was like the big brother I never had, since I was the oldest child in my family.

All of our lives took separate courses. By the time we had reached adulthood and had families of our own, I rarely saw Jack except at Christmas or perhaps Thanksgiving. When the call came that he had died, it had been two years since I had seen him.

Jack had enjoyed Thanksgiving with his family. The next day, he and his only son had gone to do what they loved: play golf. As Jack prepared to putt, he suddenly looked up and fell over backward. His son performed CPR on him and the medics arrived within five minutes, but Jack had died. In today’s world, he died a young man at 66.

As with Jack’s mom and dad—my aunt and uncle—the family asked me to perform the service, which I was honored to do.

As people my age, and near my age begin to die, I realize anew what the writer of Hebrews said: we must die. Not a pretty picture, but reality.

When I was a young boy, time seemed to last forever and everything seemed so large. During the summer, we played outdoors for what seemed longer than twenty-four hours. Now the weeks, not just the days, pass quickly. Each week, before a week has appeared to pass, I say to my wife, “Well, tomorrow is Friday.”

I remember Dad giving me a funeral outline for my first funeral service: life is short, death is certain, and eternity is sure. I have found the first two to be true, and I’m trusting by faith in the third.

What God calls me to do, I need to do … now. My priorities are important … and so is my relationship with Christ. I’m not guaranteed another breath, and each breath I take could be my last—as with Jack.

I hope Jack was ready to meet His Maker, and I hope you are too.

Prayer: Father, may we live each day, ready to meet You.

*Name changed to protect privacy.

Tweetable: Have you considered the brevity of life? 

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When Death Knocks - Martin Wiles

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment. Hebrews 9:27 NKJV

*”Johnny has been killed in an accident.”

The shocking news rolled through my soul like a tidal wave. Someone had crossed the middle line. A head-on collision occurred. Johnny was driving one vehicle; an older woman the other. Both were killed.

This death hit home. I had taught with Johnny’s mom for four years. I had even taught Johnny in Bible class—as well as instructed his younger sister and brother in grammar.

Now Johnny was a senior—graduation a mere three weeks away. But he would never walk across the stage and receive the diploma he’d worked so hard for. College scholarships would mean nothing.

Sleep refused to come the remainder of the night. I tried to imagine myself in Johnny’s family’s place. How they were feeling. What they were thinking. Could they feel at all—or think at all. I imagined they were numb. The headmaster would meet with high school students the next day. Pastors would be on hand. I sent him a text telling him I’d pray for him.

Johnny’s unexpected death reminded me of the words the writer of Hebrews penned. What he said was true then and now. Though perhaps not a part of God’s original plan, death came because humanity sinned. Now, it’s a part of life. It will knock on everyone’s door. The only ones who will escape are those alive when Jesus returns.

Death’s knock is never easy or pleasant to answer, but answer it we must. I can never know the exact moment it will occur. For some like Johnny, the knock comes much too soon. For others, the knock holds off for what seems a long time.

Students, and adults, will seek an answer. Why him? Why now? But there is no good explanation for what appears senseless. All I can do—all anyone can do—is hold on to the truth. And the truth is that God is in control and God loves us. I don’t know why He allowed Johnny to die so young—many have died younger. But I do know there is no power greater than God’s. Nor is there anyone who can love more than God does.

Johnny’s family will take comfort in knowing he is with the one whom he trusted as his Savior. When death knocks, be sure you know where you’re going when you answer.

Tweetable: Will you be ready when death knocks?

Prayer: Father, thank You that we can know where we’ll spend eternity when death knocks.

*Name changed to protect the privacy of the family. 

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Life, Death, and Hope - Martin Wiles

For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave? Psalm 6:5 NLT

Time seemed to last forever.

Whether I’m a newborn baby or an aged adult, my day holds twenty-four hours and divides into the same amount of seconds, minutes, and hours. But when I was a small boy, time seemed to move slower and the days to stretch longer. Saturdays and summers seemed to last forever.

Then a strange thing happened. I got older. I’m not sure when time seemed to abruptly speed up, but it did. I was accustomed to hearing my grandparents talk about how time flies, but I had never experienced it. Now I was. I had the same amount of time as I did when I was younger, but it didn’t seem so. Not only did the days fly faster, but the months and years did also. When I was a child, it seemed I had forever ahead of me, but now it appeared that forever had arrived.

Although the thought of death passed briefly through my mind when I was young, it didn’t linger. Now that I’m older, I know I have more days behind me than I have in front of me. The need to prepare for the end haunts me.

The psalmist presents a picture of life, death, and little hope. God’s revelation was progressive, so the psalmist didn’t have the light of New Testament teachings. Sheol was a dark and dreary place. But there is hope.

Barring the return of Jesus Christ, death is inevitable for everyone. But death doesn’t end existence. There’s more to come, and the more is good or bad depending on the choice I’ve made during life. If I’ve chosen to trust in Christ as my Savior, receive His forgiveness for my sins, and follow Him in obedience, then heaven awaits me. And it’s not a place where I won’t remember God but a place He inhabits. A place where I will serve and praise Him forever.

Leaving God out of my life results in a different end. A place called hell. A place of torment, remembrance, division, and hopelessness. No one can pray me out of it or deliver me from it. God doesn’t send me there or want me there; He merely lets me have what I’ve chosen.

Life is short, death is certain, but hope is possible. Choose Christ and experience it.

Tweetable: Do you have hope beyond this life?

Prayer: Father, we thank You for the hope we can have through faith in Jesus Christ. 

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Life Is Precious - Martin Wiles

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13

A young woman sat silently in a Sunday school class. The teacher carried on dogmatically, unaware of the awful memories he was dredging up in her mind. 

The young lady and her husband were good friends. At the time, I had no idea she had had an abortion. Whether it was “Sanctity of Life Sunday” or just the topic of the Sunday school lesson, I’m not sure, but the teacher scathed those who had had an abortion for any reason. My friend’s was because her life was at stake. She was a very godly woman and at the time was at peace with her decision. Now she wondered whether God had accepted her reasoning. 

Believers and unbelievers alike run the gamut on their views on abortion. According to a recent Gallup poll, for the first time since 2008, Americans who are pro-choice have a significant lead over those who are pro-life. Half of Americans classify themselves pro-choice as compared to only 44% who say they are pro-life. This is the first time since 1995 that pro-choice adherents have outdistanced their opponents by such a significant margin. 

Regardless of what those around him might have thought, the psalmist considered himself in favor of life. Abortion wasn’t a hot button topic then, but he loved life because he knew from Whom it originated. 

In spite of where one falls on the subject of abortion, this much is certain: life is sacred. If life wasn’t holy, God wouldn’t have given the command, “Do not murder” (Exodus 20:13). God is the author of life, and brings it into being for a reason. There are no accidents because God doesn’t make mistakes. 

Life is sacred from the moment of conception. At conception, all the components for a full human being to develop are present. Murder, in whatever form it takes, disregards the value of people who are created in God’s image.  

Life is precious. Rather than stealing life from others—whether by acts of abortion, murder, or murderous acts like gossip, we have the privilege of enriching others’ lives by pointing them to the Savior and the abundant life He offers. When everyone values life as God does, our world will be a much better place. 

What value do you place on life?

Prayer: Father, may we honor the lives You have created.

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