If you spend any time around Millennials, you have probably heard the term YOLO. For a man who has eased passed the half century mark, YOLO sounds like gibberish. For those of you that have not yet been introduced to the term, it means You Only Live Once. Therefore, you need to go for the gusto (that is a phrase a guy my age can understand), because this life is all you have.
Last year, I had the unfortunate task of helping my mother prepare for death. She skimped and saved much of her life, and managed to put aside a small amount of money for her final expenses, with a modest amount left over. As we were getting the money out of the investment, the gentleman serving us discovered Mom’s terminal condition and asked, “Is there a mountain or something that you want to see? Is there something that you could do to enjoy yourself with this money in the short amount of time you have left?” I am in no way impugning this gentleman’s statement. It was a thoughtful gesture that was appreciated by both of us. However, there was a false assumption behind that statement: the assumption that Mom was about to lose any ability to experience the beauty of this world. He, like the rest of us, was living by the philosophy of YOLO.
There was a second and third century North African scholar named Tertullian. Tertullian had a rather novel idea. He felt that the root cause of sin was the fear of death. He reasoned that it is our fear of death that leads us to sin. We fear that death will force us to miss out on things in this life, so we do whatever it takes to live this life to the fullest (YOLO), even if it means we must violate God’s laws to do it. I think that Tertullian’s view of sin is a little too narrow, but he is onto something. Our fear of death will lead us to sin. We believe that we only live once, so we must do whatever it takes to exhaust our bucket list.
Mom spent her entire life dreaming of going to Alaska. She loved to travel, and there were few things she loved more than the beauty of God’s creation. Unfortunately, cancer forced her to leave that on her bucket list. If we believe that we only live once, then Mom has forever lost her opportunity to witness that majestic beauty. She should have done whatever it took to get there before she died. However, if we believe the words of Holy Scripture, we will understand that YOLO is a lie.
The Apostle Paul says, “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us” (Romans 8:19-23 NLT).
Paul speaks of the decay of this universe, and how it is groaning as it waits for that day of redemption; the day when “it will be released from sin and suffering” (v 21). This is a reference to the physical resurrection of the universe and the resurrection of our physical bodies (Revelation 21:1-4). Paul says that there is a day coming when this entire universe will be resurrected. It will be restored to its pure unadulterated beauty that it had before the curse of sin came upon it. Moreover, we will also be resurrected, and we will spend eternity right back here on good ol' planet earth. If this is true, then Mom did not miss out on her dream to see the beauty of this planet. She can still see it, she will just have to wait a little longer.
If the entire created order is going to be restored some day, then many of the things we long to do will still be available to us in the future. Therefore, do not drive yourself to exhaustion trying to do everything. Do not sin because you think that you have to do this now. We have eternity to explore this beautiful earth. We have eternity to experience all this life has to offer. We have eternity to fulfill our bucket list.
Reader Comments(0)