The shortness of life

Last week we wrote of Methuselah, the oldest man alive at 969 years.  It must have been great in those times when people can live almost a thousand years, but I wonder if one ever gets bored living that long before the Flood.  Apparently, God has changed man’s lifetimes to its present state in post-diluvian years, with very few breaching the 100-year mark.  Shorter lifetimes make it easier to control the world’s population, too - multi-century lifespans would have caused overpopulation of the earth before Noah boarded the Ark.

We usually don’t realize this, but while we humans strive for longer lifetimes – developing new medicines and other health technology to improve longevity, we also long for our memory to also continue beyond life, too.  We value our individuality, and whether we like it or not, we are happy to know people and be known to other people.  The reality, of course, is that time will come that nobody will remember us … I mean when no one on earth will have known we ever existed.  Unless we became president of the Philippines or a convicted serial killer when our names will be etched in the halls of history. But for the thousands, millions, and billions of us mortals on earth, our memories will be erased in 80 or so – no one will then know we ever existed.

Try this in your free time – check who your forebears are.  We have two parents, four grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, and 16 great-great-grandparents, etc.  Can we name them all?  Some grandparents, we may know personally, but beyond them, we usually know our ancestors by name only through what we hear from old folk’s tales.  I know my four grandparents by name but only know two of them personally, on my mother’s side.  Good that we have a family tree, I know the names of some of my great-grandparents.  But beyond them, there is no available memory.

And that’s what 99% of us will have, unfortunately, to varying degrees. Some can remember up to grandparents only, others beyond.  Some families have family histories, and modern technology actually allows us now to create online digital family trees. Yet still, the fact remains, our identities will slowly fade into history, and later will be gone forever. After about 80 years, nobody will remember our names or recall that we even existed, unless, of course, as I said, if we became extremely famous!  Or extremely notorious!

But someone can remember us – God himself!  But only if we want him to.  The Bible speaks of a book in heaven that lists the names of all the people who will inherit eternal life.  Apparently, this is not an exhaustive list of all people who ever lived on earth, but only of those who have a personal relationship with Jesus.  At the end of time, God will remember those who are his and everyone in heaven will remember them, too.  Life is indeed short, but eternal life is forever.  And ever!  Will our names be included in the Book of Life?  I think that is a question we should ponder seriously at some point of our lives.