Life Is Short, so...Bathe in Donkey's Milk?

Americans almost worship youthfulness. We want to look young, feel young, and live longer. This is not new. Throughout history people have hungered for youthfulness. Cleopatra bathed in donkey’s milk. Ponce d’Leon chased the fountain of youth. Joan Rivers has had a million plastic surgeries (a rough estimate).

Anti-aging products are big business. Americans spend billions every year. In 2009, Botox sales topped $1 billion. One anti-aging company president said, these types of products comprise "the perfect example of a service you're not going to give up in a bad economy." Men are targeted just like women. Old sports heroes tell you to “keep your edge” by getting rid of the gray, otherwise you have no shot with the ladies.

More and more, aging is being referred to as a disease. It is hard to think of anything positive about a disease. A disease is something you fight to defeat. It is this thinking that helps fuel our preoccupation with looking/staying younger. But this is a preoccupation that can detour us from what really matters. By calling “youth and vigor meaningless” (Ecclesiastes 11:10), King Solomon makes it clear that this pursuit is without ultimate value.

Instead, he gives this wisdom. “Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, ‘I find no pleasure in them’" (Ecclesiastes 12:1).

The advice for young people is to remember God. Focus on him while you are still young before age and death catch up to you. The day is coming when you won’t be able to enjoy life the same way, even if you bathe in donkey’s milk. And the older you get the harder it will be to seek him. Your heart will be harder. You will lose your ability to change. Live in relationship with God now.

You only have two options in life. Either you will die young or you will grow old. Every one of us is standing in the middle of the train tracks of life and death’s locomotive is bearing down on us. Enjoy life at every stage, but don’t neglect God. Live large, but live within his boundaries. Whatever you do in life should be guided by the fact that you will be accountable to God. Life is short, fear God. Remember your Creator before it’s too late. Enjoyment and satisfaction don’t flow from our youth, health, or strength, but from God. He gives meaning to every stage in life. Life is short, fear God. Apart from him life is meaningless.