10 The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away. 11 Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you. 12 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
15 Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
1 O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. 2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. 3 You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. 4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. 5 You hem me in--behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. 7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. 13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’”
13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: 2 a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, 3 a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, 5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, 6 a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, 7 a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, 8 a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! 23 I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; 24 but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.
13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.
“Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” Augustine
“Life is ‘a little while,’ a short moment of waiting. But life is not empty waiting. It is to wait full of expectation. The knowledge that God will indeed fulfill the promise to renew everything, and will offer us a ‘new heaven and a new earth,’ makes the waiting exciting. We can already see the beginning of the fulfillment. Nature speaks of it every spring; people [speak] of it whenever they smile; the sun, the moon, and the stars speak of it when [they] offer us light and beauty; and all of history speaks of it when amid all devastation and chaos, men and women arise who reveal the hope that lives within them.” Henri Nouwen
“We live a life - and make a legacy - one day and one choice at a time. May God enable each of us to be the ‘real deal,’ not for our glory but for His. ‘The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands. Proverbs 14:1’” Donna Evans
“Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat… Ask me what I am living for and what I think is keeping me from living fully for that.” Thomas Merton
“Our days are numbered and God will let us – and everyone else – know when our number is up. This is not some pessimistic, fatalistic or defeatist attitude, and not mere resignation. It’s seriously grounded in faith and trust in our Sovereign God and Father. Our lives are in His loving hands from the womb to the tomb — and beyond.” Rubin Grant
“How shall we get a good conscience? Take heed of every sin, and do not count any small. Renew repentance every day, being serious and frequent in heart examinations. Live as under God’s eye. All things are bare before Him. Be much in secret prayer. Consider every action as a part of your life purpose. Enjoy Christ more and entertain good thoughts of God. Whatever you do, do it out of love for God.” Samuel Annesley
“As our Great Shepherd, He leads and directs His children in the way they should go. This is profitable for us, though often extraordinarily difficult, yet always for our ultimate good and His Glory – never one surpassing the other. Our lives are not our own. We have been bought with a high price and we are to honor God with our bodies. We are not to run ahead doing our own things, going our own ways, giving no thought to His perfect and pleasing will – which, BTW, is always for our best. This path will always lead to ultimate ruin. It matters greatly how we live our lives. Nothing done in the flesh sans His power is eternal. God will not own what mere flesh can accomplish. It will all be burned up. Seek to follow hard after the One who loves you with an everlasting love and rejoices over you with singing. You will not be disappointed.” BHY
“Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the full in every situation that you believe to be the will of God.” Jim Elliot
“Take heed that you do not glory in your graces, but let all your glorying and confidence be in Christ and His strength, for this is the only way you can be kept from falling. Pray more often. Spend longer periods of time in holy adoration. Read the Scriptures more earnestly and constantly. Watch your lives more carefully. Live nearer to God. Take the best examples for your pattern. Let your conversation emit the fragrance of heaven. Let your hearts be perfumed with affection for the souls of others. So live that others may recognize that you have been with Jesus, and have learned of Him… On, Christian, with care and caution! On, with holy fear and trembling! On, with faith and confidence in Jesus alone, and let your constant petition be, ‘Sustain me according to your promise.’ He, and He alone, is able ‘to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.’” Charles H. Spurgeon
“It is too easy to exist instead of live. Unless you know there is a clock ticking. Live everyday like you’re terminal. Because you are. Live everyday like your soul’s eternal. Because it is. Robert Frost once said that a poem ‘begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness. It is never a thought to begin with.’” Ann Voskamp
“I have rightfully no other business each day but to do God’s work as a servant, constantly regarding His pleasure. May I have grace to live above every human motive, simply with God and to God.” Henry Martyn
“We're pilgrims on the journey - Of the narrow road - And those who've gone before us line the way - Cheering on the faithful, encouraging the weary - Their lives a stirring testament to God's sustaining grace - Surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses - Let us run the race not only for the prize - But as those who've gone before us - Let us leave to those behind us - The heritage of faithfulness passed on through godly lives - After all our hopes and dreams have come and gone - And our children sift through all we've left behind - May the clues that they discover and the memories they uncover - Become the light that leads them to the road we each must find - Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful - May the fire of our devotion light their way - May the footprints that we leave - Lead them to believe - And the lives we live inspire them to obey - Oh may all who come behind us find us faithful.” Steve Green