Live this day as if thy last

Imagine if you were given the diagnosis that you have a terminal condition — you could die at any time. How would you live your life? Would you become demoralised, morose, and give up? Or, would you live each day as if it were your last?

The fact is, every one of us has a terminal illness that means our next breath could be our last. This thought was recently brought home to me when I attended the funeral of a friend who died suddenly at a young age (he was 58). Our brother was excited by the signs of the times and regularly spoke of the nearness of our Lord’s return. To our brother, the Lord has come.

The expression, “live this day as if thy last” is a line taken from a hymn, but the words have a strong scriptural basis. The idea is implied in the frequent exhortation to keep awake, for our Lord will come suddenly (Matt. 24:42–46; 25:1–13 ; Rev 22: 12). And should death come, whether that be early or after a long life, we shall (seemingly) immediately be confronted with the fact of our Lord’s return, for death is but a sleep for those “in the Lord” (2 Sam. 7:12; Dan. 12:2; Matt. 27:52; John 11:11; 2 Pet. 3:4; 1 Thess 4: 14–17; cf. Phil 1:23).

And, then there’s the passage:

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Mt 6:34).

Although not specifically referring to the coming of Christ or to the shortness of our life, it does express the spirit of our subject of living each day as if it’s the only one we’ve got.

If we only had one day to live, w hat would the affect be upon our thinking, upon our life? What would get precedence in our lives if we had just this day to live? I’m sure our life and activities would be reduced to just the essentials. Here’s a shortlist of things that I can think of:

• With the prospect of facing the Judge at the Judgement Seat, wouldn’t we want to ensure our relationship with God is right? Wouldn’t we want to fix those things that are amiss in our life? To repent, and make changes? Genuinely?
• How would we read our Bible? Would it be simply to “do the Daily Readings” — to get the job done? Or, would it be with earnest desire to understand what our Heavenly Father is teaching us, to be enriched by His thinking, to be inspired to walk “in the spirit” of that Word?
• What about those “little” things that distract us from our spiritual responsibilities? Those things that seem so important when not held up against the light of divine wisdom, but are totally irrelevant when we do? I’m sure they wouldn’t even be a temptation at all.
• What about our relationship with others, which invariably involves our responsibilities towards others. Wouldn’t we want to ensure we say the things we’ve left unsaid, and do the things we’ve left undone? To make right what has been wrong, to fix what has been broken?
• And, wouldn’t we want to not only warn, but inspire others to learn the lessons that our terminal illness brings? I’m sure we would.

If we knew that we had only one day, I’m sure our basic list would be something like this. Of course, there’d be many things that come out of this main essential list, but we only have 24 hours, and some of that time, of necessity, would be needed for sleep. But, if you were given one more day, some of those things things would be reduced, but, others may be added.

How powerful is the thought of only having one day! It reduces everything to the essentials: our relationship with God, and our relationship with others. Think of the benefits of regularly and purposefully doing this? Surely this would be a good habit to form.

This could be our last day, or hour before our Lord should suddenly appear!