The Trouble With Breathing

READ: Psalm 104:24-35
In Him we live and move and have our being.

An old mountain man had this philosophy of life: I’m not worried so much about the time I die as the place. If I ever find out where that spot is, I’ll just stay away from it.”

Well, he is right about one thing. It makes good sense to avoid things that harm us—like walking across busy freeways or taunting 6' 9" 325-pound football players.

But one thing is gradually killing us, and there’s nothing we can do to avoid it.

Breathing.

That’s right—breathing! With every breath we take, we shorten our lives a little bit.

You don’t have to be in pre-med to know that we need oxygen to survive. But scientists have discovered that in the process of converting food to energy, the oxygen we breathe produces nasty little byproducts called oxygen radicals. (They’re even more dangerous than campus radicals!) These little guys make us age. So, the more we breathe, the more we age, and the closer we come to death.

Unfortunately, the alternative is even worse. Stop breathing to end the aging process—and you will. But you won’t live to tell about it!

In a sense, God is like oxygen. We can’t live without Him. We couldn’t lift a pencil or take a morsel of food if He didn’t keep our hearts pumping. “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

But God has also decreed physical death as the consequence of sin, and He will make sure that it comes. Trying to get away from Him is as futile as stopping breathing so you don’t die from oxygen radicals.

Let’s face it. Unless Jesus returns beforehand, we’re all going to die. For you, it may be 70 years away, or it could be the next time you cross a street. The time to get ready is now! Get on good terms with God by accepting Jesus as your Savior. Then you can stop worrying about oxygen radicals. —Mart De Haan

REFLECTION

•Nobody likes to think about dying. But what am I avoiding if I don’t think about it?
•If I die, will I go to heaven? How can I be sure?

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