While There Is Still Light

After listening to a sermon anchored in Ecclesiastes 12, the message stayed with me long after it ended, connecting with other thoughts I had been carrying. The Spirit kept speaking, drawing lines between Scripture and teaching, until the meaning became clear. 

Then I heard one clear instruction: Write. The words began to form, almost insistently. 

Around that same time, my brother’s birthday was approaching. It felt right to gift him a timely word. This was written first for him. 

Now, I offer a version to you. 

While there is still light.

Ecclesiastes 12:1–7 (NLT)

Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and say, ‘Life is not pleasant anymore.’ 
Remember him before the light of the sun, moon, and stars is dim to your old eyes, and rain clouds continually darken your sky. 
Remember him before your legs, the guards of your house, start to tremble; and before your shoulders, the strong men, stoop. Remember him before your teeth, your few remaining servants, stop grinding; and before your eyes, the women looking through the windows, see dimly. 
Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed and the sound of work fades. Now you rise at the first chirping of the birds, but then all their sounds will grow faint. 
Remember him before you become fearful of falling and worry about danger in the streets; before your hair turns white like an almond tree in bloom, and you drag along without energy like a dying grasshopper, and the caperberry no longer inspires sexual desire. Remember him before you near the grave, your everlasting home, when the mourners will weep at your funeral.
Yes, remember your Creator now while you are young, before the silver cord of life snaps and the golden bowl is broken. Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. 
For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.

This passage paints the entire journey of aging in poetic detail, with the final line driving the truth home. Your spirit returns to the One who gave it, and with that return comes a full account of the life lived. 

Your spirit is a gift. Time is also a gift. Both must be stewarded before the window of opportunity closes. The more the promptings of the Holy Spirit are ignored, the easier they become to forget. Neglect becomes numbness, and numbness eventually gives way to regret.

We must quickly carry out the tasks assigned us by the one who sent us. The night is coming, and then no one can work.
John 9:4 (NLT) 

Your life is like the morning fog. It’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
James 4:14 (NLT) 

Light represents opportunity. As long as there is light, there is time to obey, time to grow, and time to fulfill the assignments placed on your life. But night will come, and when it does, opportunity ceases. 

For this reason, Scripture urges us to remember our Creator while we are young. This proposes that youth offers multiple opportunities and scripture is informing on the best choice for which to apply that vigor which should rightly be in remembering THE Creator.  Not wasting strength or waiting until zeal fades. Ecclesiastes concludes that all is vanity, spoken from the perspective of one who experienced every pleasure without restraint. The final call is clear: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is our purpose in life. 

The treasures we chase on this earth are temporary and fragile. They fade, decay, and fail to satisfy. Time, however, is a gift of grace, and grace carries the weight of eternal purpose. What we do with the time we have matters far beyond the present moment. 

Salvation is also a gift, freely offered. Jesus shed His blood so you would not have to shed yours. To reject that gift is not neutral stance. While there is still light, build intimacy with God. Let obedience lead even when feelings lag behind. This is the posture of a life surrendered. 

Eternity is an investment. What you sow today is what your eternity will reflect. Start early while there is still light. Start now if you have not. What you cannot do is wait for the perfect moment, because a day will come when we all have to be accountable for the light we have been given. 

Will you accept the call while the offer is still available? 

No matter how or where you have been called, the time is now. The clock is ticking. Do not delay. Get right to it. 

While there is still light. 

With love,
Ini