Your One LifeSample

Day One: Crafting the Life You Long to Live

It’s easy for us to think and act and live as though we’re going to be here forever. But let me gently remind you, the death rate in your town is 100 percent. How’s that for a warm, fuzzy thought? In Ecclesiastes 8:8, Solomon gives us a sober reminder: “None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death.” 

You didn’t ask to be born, and you can’t get out of dying. What you do in between, you have a lot of say over. 

If you’re a Christ follower, you believe and know that your life is not a random accident or cosmic coincidence. The Bible declares God as the author of life. I love Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Psalm 139:15. 

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,

how I was sculpted from nothing into something. (MSG) 

God breathed life into your body and stamped you with the imago Dei. God custom-designed a life just for you. 

You have limitless options for what you could do with that life — what you think about, what you spend your time doing, what you spend your money on, what you choose to love, what matters to you, and what decisions you make. 

The great news is that everything you need for life and godliness, you already have (2 Peter 1:3). God says to you and to me, “I have provided everything you need to live a rich and amazing life.” So how do we craft the life we long to live?

My hope is that this week you will live with a greater awareness that the clock is ticking. And as you hear the faint sweep of the second hand, you’ll be reminded that you get only one shot at this life. I don’t know how many days are left in your account, but I do know that it’s later than it’s ever been. So let’s look together at what it means to make the most of the life God has given us. 

On a scale of 1–10 (with 1 being low and 10 being high), how would you rate your level of satisfaction with your life? Why?