Buy the Boat

Life Is Short - Buy the Boat

Recently, while traveling south on I-5, entering the Fife Washington area, I saw the brightly lit advertisement of the boatyard. The digital reader board is large, well-positioned and colorfully. It speaks to the enormous profits the business earns selling boats to those whose goal in life is to enjoy the few short years they have on this planet.

 

Life is short.

That is an undeniable truth. No one would argue it. The secular and spiritual will admit equally and freely is point. No debate here. It is one of the very few areas that all but a few on the very fringe would stipulate to. Whether one dies at a very young age or a very old age, in the scheme of history, our little slot here is short.

 

The difference is what to do with the information 

 

The secularist would say, “buy the boat.”

“Seriously, why not. Life might be short enough you never even have to pay it off.” A good number of those who buy the boat will sell it, at a loss I might add, in a year or two. They will then buy some other toy or feel-good item because, after all, “life is short.”

 

The Bible describes this mentality when Jesus gave the parable[1] of a rich man with this philosophy, Luke 12:19 (KJV)

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.

 

The spiritual man would say, “Prepare to meet thy God.”[2]

Armed with exactly the same truth, that life on this planet is very short, the one who is spiritual seeks to know the Lord. The Bible is filled with verses declaring the brevity of life and the appropriate response to it.

·       “Our life is a vapor”[3]

·       “Teach us to number our days”[4]

·       “Seek ye first”[5]

·       “Treasures in heaven”[6]

 

So there it is. We agree, “life is short.” The question, and the fundamental disagreement all boils down to this – what will we do with that truth?

·       Will we, like an animal, live for the moment or

·       Will we, as the self aware being we are, prepare for a higher purpose?

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[1] Apostle Paul spoke directly to the secular philosophy we he wrote under the inspiration of God, 1 Corinthians 15:32 (KJV)

If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

[2] Amos 4:12 (KJV)

Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.

[3] James 4:14 (KJV)

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

[4] Psalms 90:12 (KJV)

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

[5] Matthew 6:33 (KJV)

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

[6] Matthew 6:19-21 (KJV)

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:

But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.