Feature article - July 2010

By Brian Knowles

very living creature has a “normal” or typical lifespan. Bagworm mothers in the adult stage live for a matter of minutes then they are gone. The Mayfly lives from several hours to several days. Some species live only a day and so are called “dayflies.” A female ant can live up to 15 years but the male dies in days (after copulation).

            A wormlike creature called a gastrotrich lives for about three days while the giant tortoise can live up to 177 years in captivity. It is the longest-lived land animal. There is a type of clam that is believed to live up to 400 years. Under the right conditions turkey buzzards are next - they can live 118 years Swans can live 102 years and parrots up to 80 years. The homely catfish has been known to hang around for as much as 60 years.

            The mighty elephant can rumble round the planet for up to 69 years before cashing in at the legendary “elephant’s burial ground.

            According to Danish studies, “man’s best friend” - the dog - enjoys a median lifespan of 10 or 11 years. Smaller breeds live longer than large ones.

            The “king of the beasts” - the lion - can expect to live up to 30 years while his domestic cousin typically lives around 15 years - though some have made it to 30.

            In the United States today, the average life expectancy for humans is 78 years. We lag behind 30 other nations. Japan is first. There, 83 is the norm. White American women live longest in this country - 81 years. Black women live 77 years while white males typically live to 76. On average, black males live 70 years.

            Many of us have lived long enough to have witnessed the entire lifespan of others - from cradle to grave. Some have had their lives cut short: I lost a daughter-in-law at age 27 and a stepmother at 51. Yet my grandfather lived well into his hundredth year. The point is none of us knows how long we’ll live. As Israel’s King David said, speaking of God, “My times are in thy hand…” (Psalm 31:15).

            No matter how long we live, life will seem short and not always sweet. Moses, who lived to 120, wrote of man’s brevity and God’s eternity, “The days of our years are threescore and ten, and if by reason of strength, they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away,” (Psalm 90:10).

            God has the power to cut short our lives at any moment. In 2006, some 2.4 million Americans died. Their life spans were over. At one point in history, God, in his wrath, wiped out two cities: Sodom and Gomorrah. Later, God eradicated the entire human race, except for eight souls, in a flood. Later, he threatened to do it again with Israel and start afresh with Moses. Moses appealed to God not to do it and he relented.

            Moses writes, “Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

            “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom,” (Psalm 90:11-12).

            Life is precious beyond words. None of us has any idea how long it will last. No matter our age, we could be here today, gone tomorrow. Our individual life could be far longer than we expect, or far shorter. We may live out a “normal” lifespan, or we may not. It’s all in God’s hands. Thousands of otherwise innocent people have been blown to bits by suicide bombers. More than 3000 people, unsuspectingly going about their business, were suddenly terminated by terrorists on 9/11 in New York’s Twin Towers. In the last century, millions of citizens were slaughtered by their own leaders in acts of “democide.” Millions more were killed in war. Life on planet earth can be fragile and uncertain.

Human vs. Animal Life

Man is not merely “the highest animal.” Man alone was created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Man alone has a conscience. Man is a moral creature, not a dumb brute.

            An animal is governed by instinct - it does what comes naturally. Man is governed by his conscience and by his intelligence. Man chooses between good and evil. An animal has no sense of good and evil. If it’s a predator it preys on prey animals. When a lioness tears the throat out of a wildebeest, it doesn’t see it as a terrible act of cruelty. For the predator, it’s a natural act, based on instinct.

            When man murders man, it is an act of homicide worthy of the death penalty (Genesis 9:6). Mankind alone is called upon to protect the sanctity of life. We are instructed to treat with kindness the creatures over which we have been given dominion (Proverbs 12:10).

            To wantonly destroy a human life is to obliterate a part of the image of God on the earth (same verse). Those who slaughter people without conscience are serving the purposes of ha Satan, who was “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44). The point is, because evil stalks the earth, any one of us could become its victim when we are least expecting it. The six million hapless Jews who died in the Holocaust had no idea that the demonized Adolph Hitler could perpetrate such cold, irrational cruelty. Devout Jews, great Torah scholars, beautiful children, helpless babies, elderly grandparents, talented scientists and musicians were all treated as lambs to the slaughter. But the barbarians who did it to them lived on - at least for a time, then they too were gone (study Psalm 73).

            Life, precious though it is, can be suddenly terminated by evil people, deadly disease, accidents, attacks by wild animals, floods, tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes. “Time and chance” happens to us all (Ecclesiastes 9:11).

            So what do we conclude? Simply this: Man alone is created in the image of God. Man alone is gifted with a sense of morality and ethics. Man has a conscience (assuming it hasn’t been seared). Therefore man alone can and should self-consciously manage his own life - however long, however brief. Man can overrule his drives, appetites and instincts and bring them under control.

            Because our lifespan is unknown and uncertain, it behooves each one of us to make the most of our brief time on this planet. Each of us should take seriously the admonition of Ecclesiastes 9:10: “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, wither thou goest.” No matter how long we’ve lived, time is running out.

            We can choose to squander our lives, or make the most of them. As Paul wrote, “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Redeeming the time, because the days are evil,” (Ephesians 6:15-16). If ever there were evil days, we are living in them. The dangers are real and growing. To the world’s barbarians, Christians and Jews are prey. This makes our lives all the more precious. We must protect and actively manage them - maximizing every waking moment. Unlike animals, we can, and should, make moral choices. Our real enemies are not flesh and blood, but wicked spirits in high places (Ephesians 6:12). Evil is as evil does.

            In whatever time we have “under the sun,” let us live life to the fullest. Keep clean. Avoid the contaminations of the world, the flesh and the devil. Live the moral life. Do all the good you can get away with. Try to leave the part of the world you influence a better place than you found it. Yield to the leadings of the Spirit of God. Pray about everything. Rejoice in your calling and enjoy the material blessings God has given you - eat, drink and be merry when you can, always giving God thanks. Actively manage your life to the glory of God.