Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, November 18, 2016

"For He [God] understands how weak we are; He knows we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are goneâ€"as though we had never been here."¹

I recall watching an interesting TV program commemorating the life of Gregory Peck, the well-known actor, soon after he passed away. Obviously, we know little about the personal lives of famous actorsâ€"except for what the tabloids would like to have us believe. Nevertheless, I have always had a great admiration of the talents of this gifted actor.

As we were watching this program I said to Joy, my wife, how it struck me how fleeting life is. A man reaches a peak of fame and, if he is fortunate enough, may stay there for a few years and then he is no longer. Life is over. It reminded me that that is also true of me. Here today; but gone "tomorrow".

I'll never forget some of the last words of a very close friend of mine who, in his mid-forties, became the victim of cancer, and said to me before dying, "I am so angry because there was so much more I wanted to do with my life that I never got around to doing. And now it's too late."

When I come to the end of life's journey, I don't want to have regrets. I want to know that, even with my human frailties, I gave life my best shot having invested it in eternal values. I wish the same also for you.

You have probably read the wonderful quote credited to Stephen Grellet, the 18th/19th-century French/American religious leader, who said: "I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again."

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, thank You for the wonderful privilege You have given to me to be able to serve You. I'm available. Help me to invest whatever life I have left in eternal values and to have a partâ€"no matter how smallâ€"in Your plans and what You are doing in the world in which I live. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus's name, amen."

1. Psalm 103:14-16 (NLT).

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