by Rev. Steve Nickodemus

Are you ready for the Sunset years?

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”
Psalm 90:12

It is a beautiful end of a glorious day in the Willamette Valley…the sun setting behind a magnificent oak.  As I took this picture I was in the midst of four funerals, in one month, in our small congregation, and my mind was not on the beauty of the sunset, but on the end of our mortal days.

Sure, they call the time of being a senior citizen the “golden years”, but isn’t that just another way of saying that you and I are getting ever closer to the “sunset” of our lives?  Our lives run ever so swiftly, like the sun soaring across the sky, and before we know it we are facing the darkness…the end of our days…death.

Moses, a man who saw more than his share of trouble, prays that God would give him wisdom to number his days aright.  We are like the new grass of the morning that springs up in the morning, and by evening it is dry and withered.  So we pray, “Lord teach us to number our days aright!”

I pray that when I die men would say of me three things: One, he lived by faith.  Two, he loved his wife, family, his neighbor, and especially the Lord Jesus.  Three, Jesus loved him and used him for some good while he was here on this earth.

You see, there just isn’t that much time to waste in a lifetime.  Before the sunset comes upon you, turn your focus on what is truly important… to know the Lord, His salvation, and to have peace with God and man.  Lord, grant us days to serve you aright!

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado