Ep. 149 - The Fragility of Life

In today's episode, the guys discuss the fragility of life and how this should influence the way we live. When we go through pain or health issues, it makes us think about how quickly life can go. The guys start by sharing recent experiences in their own lives: Mark thought he’d had a heart attack that was heart

problems instead; Oscar tells a story of when he’d gone to the emergency room and ended up blacking out from not eating for 8 hours while waiting; Ray had kidney stones; and two of Living Waters board members had passed away very unexpectedly. We will all experience pain and tragedy, so how does this inform the way we live as Christians? Psalm 23 states, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Everyone thinks Psalm 23 is speaking of death, but it’s actually speaking about life here and now. When you are in the shadow of something, it means you’re in close proximity to it. The light dissipates the darkness just like life does to death. We are walking through the valley of the shadow of death right now, but the Lord is with us. They also talk about how so often those who have every reason to complain from a human perspective don’t complain and instead focus on the frailty of life and eternity.  Our modern culture likes to keep death at a distance. We don’t talk about death, we prolong it and we like to dress it up. Throughout history, when a person died, the family would embalm the body, dig the grave, and mourn. Now, the family members don’t clean the body or embalm it; other people do. We don’t deal with death physically, but faith helps us to deal with death spiritually. The more faith we have in Jesus, the less fear we will have in the face of death. We will be in eternity with our Father in Heaven and God will reconstruct the world back to the way it was meant to be.  As Christians, we don’t have to fear death, but there is futility of life for those who don’t know Christ. Solomon searched high and low to find anything to fulfill his soul, but he declared that all is vanity. But in the light of the fragility of life, believers can glorify God in two ways: by living out a righteous life and proclaiming the gospel to the lost. We need to tell everyone about Jesus and His love for all of us. From Scripture we know that death and sin go hand-in-hand. If we can’t hate sin for what it is, we must hate sin for what it does.  Psalm 39:4-5 states, “Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure.” Our world lives as if we’re immortal, but scripture says our life is but a breath. We do not know the when last time will be that we will get to see our loved ones or friends. We need to spend every moment focusing on the Lord and spending time with the ones who matter most. Mark also discusses the idea of “don’t waste your dash.” We all have a dash from when we’re born and when we will die. To make sure our life counts, we need to live for what actually matters, which is eternity and being faithful to the Lord. Send us Fan MailThanks for listening! If you’ve been helped by this podcast, we’d be grateful if you’d consider subscribing, sharing, and leaving us a comment and 5-star rating! Visit the Living Waters website to learn more and to access helpful resources!You can find helpful counseling resources at biblicalcounseling.com.Check out The Evidence Study Bible and the Basic Training Course.You can connect with us at podcast@livingwaters.com. We're thankful for your input!Learn more about the hosts of this podcast.Ray ComfortEmeal (“E.Z.”) ZwayneMark SpenceOscar Navarro