12. What is a typical attitude to the lifespan God has given to each of us in which to choose the gift of everlasting life? Ecclesiastes 8:15; Isaiah 22:13; Luke 12:19.
NOTE: ‘Multitudes live with no thought or care for the future. Like Esau they cry, “Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we die.” 1 Corinthians 15:32. The claims of appetite prevail, and God and heaven are virtually despised. When the duty is presented of cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, they are offended.’ From Eternity Past, page 117.
‘“If the dead rise not, let us eat and drink; for to-morrow we die.” What the apostle says here is a regular and legitimate conclusion from the doctrine that there is no resurrection; for if there be no resurrection, then there can be no judgement, no future state of rewards and punishments; why, therefore, should we bear crosses, and keep ourselves under continual discipline? Let us eat and drink, take all the pleasure we can; for tomorrow we die, and there is an end of us forever.’ Dr Adam Clarke, quoted in A. T. Jones: The Immortality of the Soul, page 6. (Dr Clarke was showing how denying the resurrection of the dead will affect the way you live your life.)
13. What is the wise way for a believer in Christ to use the lifespan God has given to him? 1 Corinthians 10:31. Compare Psalm 90:12.
NOTE: ‘Our time belongs to God. Every moment is His, and we are under the most solemn obligation to improve it to His glory. Of no talent He has given will He require a more strict account than of our time. The value of time is beyond computation. Christ regarded every moment as precious, and it is thus that we should regard it. Life is too short to be trifled away. We have but a few days of probation in which to prepare for eternity. We have no time to waste, no time to devote to selfish pleasure, no time for the indulgence of sin. It is now that we are to form characters for the future, immortal life. It is now that we are to prepare for the searching judgment. The human family have scarcely begun to live when they begin to die. The man who appreciates time as his working day will fit himself for a mansion and for a life that is immortal. It is well that he was born. We are admonished to redeem the time. But time squandered can never be recovered. We cannot call back even one moment. The only way in which we can redeem our time is by making the most of that which remains, by being co-workers with God in His great plan of redemption. . . . The opportunity that is now ours to speak to some needy soul the word of life may never offer again. God may say to that one, “This night thy soul shall be required of thee,” and through our neglect he may not be ready. (Luke 12:20.) In the great judgement day, how shall we render our account to God?’ The Faith I Live By, page 158.