My Last Day

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die” (Eccl 3:1-2).

What if you knew that you had only one day to live? What would you spend your last 24 hours doing? Would you quickly find your “bucket list” and start going through it? Would you spend the time with your family? Would you spend it in prayer? Would you spend it reading the Bible? None of us know when our last day on earth will be. Only God knows when we breathe our last breath just as He knew the day of our birth. Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.” James warns us to not be presumptuous about our future and do not say “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit-Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” (James 4:13-14). Since we don’t know the last day of our life, we should live like there is no tomorrow.

When I leave the house for work, I always tell my wife, my children and even my grandchildren when I see them, that I love them. I want those words to be my last in case that is the last time that they see me. I will never regret leaving them with the thought that they were loved. I should strive to live today as if it were my last and that “I love you” were my last words ever spoken because “love never fails” (1 Cor 13:8a).