Recently, Ed, my neighbour next door, was disgusted with a news statement that said: "As little as 15 minutes of exercise a day can add years to your life."
"There is nothing that can add years to your life," insisted Ed. He referred to his uncle Max to prove his opinion.
According to Ed, everybody who knew his uncle Max agreed that he was an exercise fanatic. Yet Max died in seconds, before he was 40. His years of daily exercising meant nothing when he was struck by lightning. He was killed while grabbing wash off the clothes line, when a thunder storm hit. "Nothing can add years to your life. When your time is up - nothing can prevent your end," Ed passionately proclaimed.
"I kind of agree with you Ed," I said, "but with one exception - God. God not only gives and takes life but also extends it according to his will."
"You can never leave God out of anything can you, Ray! It is just a matter of life. Once you're born, you're on a stopwatch until your time is up. Sometimes the stopwatch refuses to wind down and sometimes it stops before the person is ready. Death comes, the game of life is over and there is no way of prolonging it," Ed asserted.
"For those of us who do not leave God out of everything, the timing of birth and death are sacred events when God is acting. I wasn't offended at the news statement. It was positive, just saying that even a little exercise each day is good. Some people don't get a lot of daily exercise because their jobs involve working with computers or machines," I commented.
"If they were farming, they would get all the exercise they need and more," Ed stated.
"Some days are spent by farmers driving tractors working land where there is a lot of sitting and limited doing. Maybe even farmers also need exercise certain days," I offered.
This just ticked Ed off and he left shaking his head and muttering that the only people who really work and get lots of exercise are farmers.
In the past, perhaps people did get plenty of exercise through their work. In Biblical times, the most basic way of travel was by walking. Most things were done by hand and there were few labour saving devices. Basic tasks like washing clothes gave the person doing it a great amount of exercise. Lots of exercise did not necessarily add years to peoples' lives. Often, famines, due to drought or floods made life short. Wars and diseases also made adding years to one's life uncertain. Those same things tend to limit the years of our lives also.
The Bible confirms: "There is a time for everything a time to be born and a time to die. Man's days are determined. You (God) have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed." For Ed, there is just death without God when his time is up. For me, God reminds me there is a limit to my days so that I might fix my eyes on Jesus. For with faith in Jesus, death is swallowed up in victory and even now I can look to eternal life with Him when my time is used up here.
