“Dying Before You Die”

Re: Verse reading–Deuteronomy 34 (day five)
“So Moses…died…his vitality had not left him” (34:5, 7). All of us die, but many of us will die before we die because our “vitality” leaves us. The Hebrew word for “vitality” or “strength” refers to a young tree that is fresh and growing. It’s what happens when God’s Spirit inhabits and rules in a person’s life. The Apostle Paul put it this way, “though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). This foretaste of resurrection is evidence of the Spirit’s work of restoration. Not everyone will taste it, however. Some will die long before they die because they have ceased to be fresh and growing. The person who has died before they die is no longer learning, challenging, building, failing, investing, meeting, initiating, risking, loving, giving, reading, serving. Sadly, many will die in this way in their young adulthood having been deceived that there is no more to life. Others will die as they retire feeling that they have done enough. Is there a glimmer of life left? If so, then there’s hope! Don’t die before you die!