The greatest surprise of life:  the brevity of life.

Return for a moment to 1991.  See a student of the university sitting before a foreign device, one newly purchased for the distinct reason of attending school.  Prior to this moment, typewriters were the favored way to create finished compositions.  If we recall those days, then we remember typing full pages of copy, only to reach the bottom of the page, and realize that our spacing was not accurate.  There was not sufficient space for the needed footnotes.  Thus, we needed to rip out that typed sheet of paper, crumple it up, insert a new sheet of clean white paper, and begin anew typing our essay, hopeful that this time our spacing would be just perfect.

The mathematician and scientist Pascal was brilliant.  Among many other noteworthy endeavors, he invented the computer that we know today.  In doing so, we now have the ability to delete, to backspace, to save and return, and even to copy/paste all correspondence.  Consider the capacity that now houses thoughts, words, letters, and numbers.  Years ago, we found ourselves inserting a large, “floppy disk” or a smaller square disk into the frontside of the computer to save our work; today we click on the toolbar, select save, and then house our work on “the cloud.”  Yes, Pascal was a genius.

In the year 1654, he spoke these words:  “I submit myself absolutely to Jesus Christ my redeemer.”

Reflect on his scientific mind, comparing it with his statement of fact.  If you place your trust in God and open ourselves to His love, then you lose nothing, even if we are wrong.

However, if instead you bet on the untruth that there is no God, then you lose it all in this life and in the life to come.

The life of Christ Jesus should be our focus.  Period.

In the days leading up to His crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection from the dead, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives and spoke these words to His disciples:

Have you ever considered what you will be doing on that day—the day the Son of Man comes?

• Do you picture yourself working at your earthly tasks?
• Will you be sleeping in your bed?
• Will you be driving your vehicle down the road?
• Could it be that you’re holding your baby or your grandchild?
• Could it be that the Lord Jesus would come why you are down on your knees praying?
• What if He comes and finds you serving your neighbor?
• What if He returns and sees you doing the work He has called you to do?
• What would change in your plans—TODAY—if you really believed that Jesus would come today?
• Would your habits, your hobbies, your life-distractions, your focus change?

We cannot and do not know the day our Savior will return, for He told us Himself that no one knows.

Therefore, as Pascal wrote:  “I submit myself absolutely to Jesus Christ my redeemer.”

• May we each be at work, doing the commission the Lord has given us to do.
• May we not be asleep while there are those around us who are perishing.

Let us not be distracted with the cares of this life, but let us be focused, absolutely submitted to our redeemer.