Finishing Our Work

"I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar."  (Alfred, Lord Tennyson).  
Note to the reader: Not to be morbid, but preparing for one's passing involves more than taking care of one's final expenses!  
OUR DAYS ARE DETERMINED AND PLANNED BEFOREHAND!  (CF.  PSALM 119:16).  
"In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:  the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness" (Eccl. 7:15, NIV).  [The godly can perish before their time.]
"So He will do to me whatever He has planned.  He controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT).

Paul thanked God and prayed he would complete his mission, which would be his greatest joy.  King David passed away, but having fulfilled God's purpose and having done all God's will (cf. Acts 20:24, 10:36).  It is true in a sense that we don't pass away till God is finished with us, which should be an incentive to do God's will and be ready.  We ought always to be ready to meet our Lord, for we know not when we will (cf. Amos 4:12).  Now Hezekiah was told directly from God to get his house in order because his time was short!  However, he objected and told the Lord that he was only in the prime of his life (it would be a shame!). Note that Matthew Henry said we ought to live every day as if it's our last.  Only God knows what we are here for and when our time is completed; we only see through a glass darkly--of which we will understand on the other side. (One mystery, or paradox that Scripture mentions, is that people who want to live often die, and those who would die, go on living. )

Now, the great question one must ask is whether the godly die before their time.  Yes, they can!  Isaiah 57:1, NLT, says so:  "Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time."  Some think that when no one needs them they will die, but God can always use a committed believer who is conformed to the pattern of His will.  We have no luxury of judging someone's life by its length.  It is good to live to be old, which is a luxury, but not all become wise.

We must acknowledge the wise wording of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1ff that there is a time for every matter under heaven--including a time to die. Actually, the Bible declares the day of one's death better than the day of his birth!  "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants" (Psalm 116:15, NIV).  Christians have the hope of eternal life due to Christ's resurrection that gave us reason to believe and this should be all the more motive and inspiration to live a life pleasing to Him, and not for the day only, but one day at a time in light of the Word and of eternity.

Therefore, let's all be looking forward to "crossing" (not passing) our bar and meeting the Lord in glory.  In the meantime, we are to live as if it's "one step between [us] and death!"  CAVEAT: WE MUST BEWARE LEST WE SIN UNTO DEATH (CF. 1 JOHN 5:16) AND GOD DECREE TO TAKE US BEFORE OUR TIME AS DIVINE DISPLEASURE!    Soli Deo Gloria!