“Man, that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble” (Job 14:1).

Time, as we know it, is running out for each one of us. Compared to eternity, our life is short. You get married and before you know it, you are celebrating your fiftieth marriage anniversary. You have children and before you know it, they are graduating from college. Life just seems to fly by. “Of few days” is certainly an accurate description of man’s existence here on earth.

The question is, what should we do about the brevity of life? How should we live our lives since it could end at any time? Let us observe a few things along these lines.

We should obey the gospel now!

The gospel is God’s power unto salvation (Romans 1:16). Those who do not obey the gospel will be eternally lost. That means that they will spend eternity in hell, a place of pain and torment. It does not matter if the person willfully spurns the invitation of Christ or if he plans to obey but dies first—the result is everlasting destruction (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9). Some are in the habit of procrastinating; however, when it comes to the salvation of the soul, delaying obeying the gospel is foolish. Today is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2). Now, if one is not convinced that Jesus is the Son of God and the Bible is God’s word, further study is necessary. But if you have accepted the Bible as the inspired word of God (willing to follow all of God’s precepts therein), and Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, why take the chance of putting off getting right with God. Life is short! It could end at any time. Obey the gospel now!

We should try to reach as many souls as we can with the gospel

As we think of the shortness of life, all our focus should not be on ourselves. We should be mindful of the millions of souls who are lost in sin. What can we do? We can spread the gospel to the lost. In fact, that is all we can do. We can’t force people to obey God, and trickery won’t do. We can, however, teach those who are lost the wonderful story of Jesus. Some will mock us and others will act perturbed by the message. There will be those who will show utter indifference towards the gospel. Still, we must reveal God’s wonderful word to as many as we can. There are a few out there who have honest and open hearts. It is our job to find them, not wait for them to find us. Jesus said we must “GO” and teach all nations (Matthew 28:19). And in view of the brevity of life, we should go as soon and as often as we can. Everyday there is a soul somewhere who dies outside of Christ. Let’s be about our Father’s business.

We should do what we can to restore the fallen

Paul said, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted: (Gal. 6:1). A fellow-Christian can bear no greater burden than to be overwhelmed by sin. Sin is a heavy weight that makes running the race of Christianity impossible (Hebrews 12:1). In a very real way we are our brother’s keeper. We cannot make decisions for brethren. We cannot force a fallen member to be restored. But we can talk to them and do the best we can to persuade them to come back to the faith from which they left. Remember, these wayward members of the church are dwelling in a state of condemnation. Time is running out for them to get right with God. Time is running out for us to reach them. Let’s act now while we still can.

Surely there are other things that we could mention along these lines. We need to live each day of our lives as if it were going to be the last. If we have offended anybody, we need to get it right while we can. If someone has sinned against us and we are holding a grudge, we need to forgive them while we can. If there is a talent that we possess that we have been negligent in using, we need to exercise that talent before it is too late. Life is short. Every day, hour and minute that goes by is forever lost in time. Let’s redeem the time (Colossians 4:5), realizing that we may not have very much of it left. Remember the words of James: “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes” (James 4:14).