25,915

That is the number of days in the life of the average human. Reebok commissioned the study this past year, resulting in a fitness campaign with the motto “Honor Your Days.”

So, according to Reebok, I have 10,918 days left. And while I must admit that I do find it motivational to know, according to Reebok, that I’ve already lived 58% of my life, I find this passage below from DL Moody’s The Overcoming Life, even more inspiring to “live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10)

“Many are mentioned in Scripture of whom we read that they lived so many years and then they died. The cradle and the grave are brought close together. They lived and they died, and that is all we know about them. In these days, you could write on the tombstone of many professing Christians the date they were born and the date they died. There is nothing in between.

You can’t bury a good man’s influence. It lives on. They have not buried Daniel. His influence is as great today as it ever was. Do you tell me that Joseph is dead? His influence still lives and will continue to live on and on. You can bury the frail house of clay that a good man lives in, but you can’t get rid of his influence and example. Paul was never more powerful than he is today.

 Do you tell me that John Howard, who went into so many of the dark prisons in Europe, is dead? Is Henry Martyn, or William Wilberforce, or John Bunyan dead? Go into the southern states, and there you will find millions of men and women who once were slaves. Mention to any of them the name of Wilberforce, and see how quickly their faces light up. He lived for something beside himself, and his memory will live on in the hearts of those for whom he lived and labored.

 Are Wesley or Whitefield dead? The names of those great evangelists were never more honored than they are now. Is John Knox dead? You can go to any part of Scotland today and feel the power of his influence. The enemies of these servants of God are dead. Those who persecuted them and told lies about them are dead. But the men themselves have outlived all the lies that were uttered concerning them. Not only that, but they will also shine in another world.”

 With 2017 having just begun, and with it another 365 opportunities to daily “live for something other than yourself so your memory will live on in the hearts of those for whom you lived and labored,” we would be wise to recall the words of the late C.T. Studd,

“Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in ‘that day’ my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgment seat;
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”