"Sicut et nos, ita et vos eritis."

It is only the prospect of our own death which purifies and properly orders our priorities for living. Knowing that we must make an accounting for the time we have been given reminds us that we have too little time to be wasting it on frivolous or decadent, much less on sinful, concerns. No one knows how long, or short, our allotted span may be, but we should take counsel on how to relate with God.

It used to be common during the middle ages for churches, and some wealthy homes, to have a mural of skeletons with a motto: "As you are now, so once were we, and as we are now, so shall you also be." It was a not so subtle reminder that the hour of death comes, sooner or later, for each of us, and we should live so as to assure our souls a place in Heaven, according to the will of God.

How shall we fare, and keep our lives in proper order, when we may someday have the promise of a thousand years? It is so hard already to build and maintain self-discipline when we think we may have only a thousand, or fewer, months. Even when we have friends, whose lives were cut drastically short, it is terribly hard to make ourselves think that we may not have many tomorrows, or even any. Only when it seems that the time may be imminent can we force ourselves to really focus on setting our lives in proper, spiritual order.

When we are young, we instinctively feel that our lives stretch so far into the future that we cannot touch the ending. We cannot believe that what we are doing today may be so consuming, or fulfilling, that we may still be doing it when we get old. Only if we feel that we have found our calling, to serve the Lord by doing what we love, can we see ourselves in that work for a lifetime.

It is a pity to realize that our paycheck is dependent on a job which has no spiritual significance. If that is our case, we must seek to begin some new endeavor which may fill that void, so that our lives are not merely dissipation. We can choose to spend our efforts chasing after money, or we can find a way to serve the Lord and use our talents to best effect. If we are very lucky, our job is morally acceptable and sufficient to support us in another more philanthropic endeavor, so that we can shift our focus. But our Lord told us that we cannot serve both God and Money. Our income must be used in his service, if it is not to become an issue. Or we must learn to be satisfied with being "poor" by the world's standards. There is no stigma in this. Christ Himself was poor.

But it was not always like this. The idea of an afterlife which would begin with the judgment of our earthly lives, and thereby determine our eternal happiness or misery, developed slowly. Perhaps it came as an inerrant revelation from God, but we did not get it all at once. Rather we have a very different tradition, on which we used to put a great deal more focus. In ancient times, a good education included the study of good advice for living a wholesome life. These practical admonitions were collected in the Wisdom texts popular in many nations' upper class circles.

King Solomon was renowned for his great wisdom, and his best works were collected in the Bible. These may seem like worldly instructions, but they are humble, and ever conscious of living a godly life. They are presented like a father's advice to beloved children, offering his best wisdom to help them to become wise and content in their own lives. These ideas really do work, and they are not just old-fashioned sayings. They were approved for the edification of all future generations, and they have stood the test of time. Indeed, since they have lasted for 3,000 years, we can feel pretty confident about what they teach.

But even Solomon in all his glory, became world weary eventually. He realized that what the world may value is not the real standard by which we must judge what is important. There is a pattern of the world, and not much changes year after year. So many people chase after meaningless novelties, or personal wealth, or spend their lives going around and around never asking "why." Even Solomon had lost his focus, when he allowed his wives to bring in their foreign idols.

Despite what the world may say, there is only one thing of ultimate importance: our relationship with God. Only God knows what we were put here to accomplish, and we begin to see small parts of his plans as we follow his prompting. Our basic nature is far from what He wants us to become, but He knows how to transform us. We can find some happiness serving others and gaining their approval, and many of us stop there, but that would leave the world the same as always. God wants to raise us up to the higher standards of Heaven. But we don't know what those are. We have to listen to Him, and stay close to Him, so we can know what He wants of us. God does not share his whole plan with anyone. We have to be patient, and stay focused on what we do know, and always trust in his care for us.

And that is our job for a lifetime. God alone knows what is best for us, and what will make us happy for eternity. It is our task to stay aware of his perspective on our lives. We may have already made a total mess of it so far, but He knows how to make the best of it from here. If you know that what you are doing is not pleasing to God, then stop doing that. You can apologize, and ask Him to forgive you. He will. And He will help you to find something better to do, which will put you in a right relationship with Him, and give you a part in his plan. And if you have to clean up your act one step at a time, He can help you to do that too. His mercy will give you strength.

It takes a lot of prayer, either way. But that, really, is the most important part: just being willing to pray, and listen for Him to answer. He may answer through the Bible at first, or through his church pastors, or you may hear directly from "the still, small voice within" that you just know speaks from the single best hope within you. But you have to listen, and sometimes you have to talk to someone you can trust, just to make sure that you are hearing right. But God will answer, if you ask. "Seek and you shall find; ask and you shall receive; knock and the door shall be opened to you."

And when you have found your own right relationship to God, you won't have to fear the last days of your life. The words of the skeletons on the wall won't trouble you, because you will know that you have not wasted your life. The whole point of this life is to find that right relationship, and to walk with God by the path that He shows us, one day at at time, or as far ahead as He chooses to reveal it to our limited point of view. God wants you to be happy (He calls it "blessed"), and He wants you to have a meaningful part in his plan. Now really, what more could you want?