Human Frailty

https://odb.org/MY/2021/10/03/adam-r-holz

It had been a long eventful and emotional week for me! Two large value transactions I was handling were approved by the Board of my company to proceed, two major contracts I have been negotiating were finally signed, my son flew off to the UK for further studies, my dog passed away and a church leader with end stage cancer passed away right before our eyes when my wife and I visited her and her husband yesterday afternoon.

I witnessed the frailty of life when both the oximeter and blood pressure device registered reducing and then zero readings in the case of my church leader. Breathing stopped and we couldn’t feel any pulse.

My dog refused a piece of chicken (not a good sign as she eats practically anything and anytime as she is a dog that is always hungry!) at around 6pm the day before. We took her to a vet and they suspected possibly kidney failure and by around 11 pm, she didn’t have any more life. She was gone. She was a very strong dog and died the first time we saw her unwell. She was 12 years old (in human terms, that’s 84). When life goes, it goes – there is nothing we can do at that point but honour them with a proper burial.

There is no doubt that as we age, we will feel the changes in our bodies. We are not as strong as before. We have aches all over. Our joints freeze. We get tired more easily. Our vision and hearing become poorer. Our thoughts are slower. Outwardly, we are wasting away, day by day. Because of the fall, humankind can never live forever in this earthen vessel. In the earlier days of Adam and Cain and Seth, humans live up to perhaps, 800 years. But in Genesis 6:3, God decided to limit our lifespan to 120 years, meaning to say, that the days of man living till 500 or 800 years old were over.

However, Paul taught in 2 Corinthians 4:16 that inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Our spirit is being strengthened as we dwell and immerse ourselves in His presence. As we serve Him and sow seeds of faith for His kingdom, we become stronger inside the same way we will be storing riches in heaven by heeding amd following His laws and commandments.

I think for me there are two major takeaways. First is if we want to serve God more fervently, do it while we are younger and not older. It is risky to wait until we retire as we will be much older then and weaker physically and likely bogged down by sickness. Yes, we have a career and a day job and family needs, but there must be a balance. We should give God our best, and we are at our peak when we are at our youth.

So, if there is something we want to do for God, do it now and not later. We are in control of today. We can’t do anything about yesterday and we don’t know what tomorrow lies.

The second takeaway for me is that we must spend more time strengthening our inner man. We exercise, eat healthily and take our meds but we will still be wasting away. We can slow down the process but aging will inevitably takes its toll. Spend more time praying, reading His Word, being in fellowship with Him, worshipping God, serving Christ. Do all that we need to do and more, to strengthen our spirit as that is the part of us that will live on after our outer shell passes.

If we eat good food all the time, we put our physical body at risk to all sorts of diseases and infirmities, but if we partake of good spiritual food all the time, our spirit will be stronger and stronger!