OUR TIME ON EARTH IS BRIEF

[Pastor Bayo Afolaranmi]

Dearly Beloved,

OUR TIME ON EARTH IS BRIEF

“Our time on earth is brief; the number of our days is already decided by [God]” (Job 14:5 CEV).

The death of Reverend Tunde Taiwo (1969-2015), the senior pastor of Zion Baptist Church, Ilorin, Nigeria, is another evidence that anybody can die at any time without prior notice. Here was a man who left the seminary where he was doing his postgraduate study early in the day for a couples' retreat of pastors and interacted with many pastor-colleagues before going back home late in the night. He was awake still studying late that night when death struck him. It was a surprise to many people that saw him both at the seminary and the retreat earlier that day that somebody they interacted with some hours ago is dead. He died with many unfulfilled aspirations: aspirations for his life, aspirations for his wife, aspirations for his children, aspirations for his church and church members, aspirations for his country, aspirations for many people and things.

Job, in his anguish, lamented about the brevity of life. Hear him: “Life is short and sorrowful for every living soul. We are flowers that fade and shadows that vanish.... Our time on earth is brief; the number of our days is already decided by [God]” (Job 14:1-2, 5 CEV). Gone were the days when a person could live nearly for a thousand years like Methuselah (see Genesis 5:27). Hardly do people live up to a hundred years nowadays. Moses, in his psalm, was of the opinion that “We can expect seventy years, or maybe eighty, if we are healthy, but even our best years bring trouble and sorrow. Suddenly our time is up, and we disappear” (Psalm 90:10 CEV). The bitter truth here is that regardless of our aspirations and status, death can come at any time without warning. In spite of this, God is not caught unaware about anyone’s death.

If our life on earth is brief and death can come calling without prior notice, are you prepared to die? Someone has posited that we are not ready to live until we are prepared to die. If you die today, what will people say about you? Where will you find yourself after death? Death is never the end of anyone’s life. There is life after death. The writer of the book to the Hebrews succinctly put it: “We die only once, and then we are judged” (Hebrews 9:27 CEV). For this judgement, see also Ecclesiastes 11:9; Romans 14:9-12; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Timothy 4:1; Revelation 20:11-15. Our time here on earth is indeed brief, but, what kind of judgement will be your lot after death?

In His service,

Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).

NB

This message is dedicated to late Reverend Oluwole Olatunde Taiwo (born on September 19, 1969, died on February 21, 2015 and buried on February 26, 2015), the senior pastor of Zion Baptist Church, Ilorin, Nigeria. May the Lord continue to uphold his wife, children, church and other beloved that survived him.