June 1
Only one life
“Thou hast granted me life” (Job 10:12).
“For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life” (Deut. 32:47).
A preacher of a mathematical turn of mind once addressed his congregation in these words: “My friends, you make very free with your days; pray, how many do you expect to have? Let us consider: Seventy years of life yield 25,550 days. Remember that a period of twenty years is gone, almost before you begin to live. Deduction Number 1—7,300 days. Remainder—18,250 days. Then the one item sleep deducts 6,080 days, leaving 12,170 days. For recreation and occupations, we will deduct another third. Deduction Number 3—4,060 days. Remainder—8,110 days. Then deducting the time used in eating, drinking, dressing, bathing, etc., at a single blow will leave you not over 4,000 days in a long life in which to develop good things in your nature. Approximately eleven years. Think of it. That is to say, if we live out our allotted time; many do not. Does it look small and short? Indeed, brethren, it is. And it is priceless; nothing on earth can represent its true value. And yet what a glorious inheritance, for the Master commits this into your hands today with the great charge, ‘Occupy till I come.’”