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05.25.08

MURPHY’S LAW AND THE GOSPEL

PSALM 91; MATTHEW 6:25-34

Facing Death

Two Different Attitudes

Are you curious to know when you might die?

Probably not, since death isn’t something we like to think about or talk about
Most of us are scared to death by death because we’re hope we’ve got a lot more living to do
We know that death’s a part of life, but we’d like to hold it off as long as possible
We want to enjoy life as long as we can

Knowing when we’re going to die is something God doesn’t think we need to know

It’s a piece of life that remains a mystery until it happens
Imagine if, from the day of our birth, we knew exactly how long our life will be and when we’re going to die
That knowledge would have a profound impact on the way we live

For many of us, that knowledge would affect us very negatively

We would go through life cowering in fear afraid to come in contact with others for fear that we might contract some sort of disease that would shorten our life
We would never take any kind of risk for fear that the risky behavior might cause our death
We’d be terrified to ever leave our homes
In essence, knowing when we’re going to die would rob us of the joy of living
When fear robs us of the joy of living, in certain ways we have already died
Perhaps this is why God chooses to keep that information from us

Yet, the opposite reaction is also possible

Knowing when we’re going to die might change our life for the good
There are countless stories about how the lives of people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness have been radically changed by the knowledge that they have a limited amount of time left to live
Relationships with those they love become deeper and more meaningful; a lot more effort is made to restore relationships that have been broken
The beauty of the world becomes more exquisite as they take the time to notice little things that were so often taken for granted
Every moment becomes precious, so it becomes very important to make the best use of each of them rather than to waste them on meaningless endeavors
But isn’t it sad that this attitude is applied only to the final moments of life rather than to the whole of our living?

Death Calculator

If you’re interested in knowing how long your life will be and when it is that you might die, there is a way to find out with reasonable accuracy

Dr. David Demko, a well-known gerontologist in Boca Raton, FL has been doing research for the past 30 years on lifestyle patterns that either enhance or diminish life expectancy
While he was in graduate school in Michigan in 1974, he developed the Death Calculator, and shortly after, he received the support of the U. S. Administration on Aging
Since then, the Death Calculator has been used around the world to predict life expectancy, based upon certain lifestyle behavior patterns

The Death Calculator is really a simple quiz

Based upon a median age of 79, you add or subtract years based upon your answers to the questions
The questions include such things as:

Do you have an annual physical exam? If yes, add three years; if no, subtract three years
Do you volunteer on a weekly basis? If yes, add two years; if no subtract one
Are you able to laugh at and learn from your mistakes” Yes = plus one year; no = minus three years
Do you belong to a religious group and do you practice your faith? You gain two years for a yes answer, but you lose nothing for a no

I was so curious when I read about this that I went online to take the death calculator survey

Dying at a young age is a concern of mine since the males in my family tend to die in their early 60s
There is longevity in my family, but it runs in the women
My great-grandmother lived to be 102, and my great-great-grandmother lived to be 107
I was nervous when I finished the 55 questions and began to tally my score
But according to this calculator,, I stand a pretty good chance of living until I’m 101—that gives me another 48 years
If you’re interested in taking this survey yourself, you can find it online at www.demko.com

The point of Dr. Demko’s Death Calculator isn’t to predict when we’re going to die

It’s purpose has to do with the way we live
It’s intended to help us focus on making lifestyle choices that will help us live life in the healthiest way possible
And it’s certainly better to make those choices now before we die because after we die, we have no choices at all

Living Life

The Way We Choose to Live

And that brings us to our Scripture Lessons for today

The 91st Psalm is an often read and much loved psalm
In it, the psalmist declares his hope and confidence in the loving grace and gracious protection of God
If we dwell in the shelter of the Most High God, we will find rest in God’s shadow
God will be for us a mighty fortress, protecting us from harm
God will gather us under God’s wings, just as a mother bird gathers her chicks, and God will even provide angels to lift us up and keep us from harm

These are glorious promises, but we have to be careful how we understand them

The key to understanding this passage lies in the opening words of this psalm, and the focal point of that first verse in the word “dwell”
To “dwell in the shelter of the Most High” means to live our life in the presence of God
And to live in the presence of God means to live life God’s way
To live life God’s way is to structure our lifestyle and to make choices that will enhance the quality of life rather than harm it—for ourselves and for others
It is to actively seek to do the will of God

How often have we heard people complain, or we’ve complained ourselves, that God doesn’t care because God has allowed certain things to happen to us?

We have a habit of running to God for shelter only after we’ve done something stupid or wrong or hurtful
Far too often, we come running to God to “fix things” after we’ve made a complete mess out of life, then we accuse God of not caring when our troubles don’t instantly disappear

God’s gracious protection is ours only insofar as we are willing to “dwell” in God’s presence

As we live according to the pattern that God has designed for us to live, God will be our protection and will satisfy us with long life
But when we choose to live a lifestyle that is different from what God has designed, God’s protection is not guaranteed
While God loves us and will forgive us, God will not instantly remove the consequences that result from the choices we have made while living a lifestyle contrary to the will of God

Murphy’s Law or Jesus’ Law

It amazes me how much of life is governed by Murphy’s Law rather than the Law of God

I don’t know who this guy Murphy is, but the law he formulated significantly influences the way many of us live our lives
Murphy’s Law states “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong at the worst possible moment.”
Buying into this law colors the way we look at life and influences everything we do
Murphy focuses us on the negative side of life rather than the positive, and draws our attention to what’s wrong with the world rather than to what’s right with it
He convinces us that we are subject to fate rather than grace, and we have no control over what happens to us
Worst of all, his law develops an attitude of pessimism within us, and that pessimism becomes the breeding ground for worry

If we’re really interested in not only living longer but living better, one of the best things we can do is to eliminate most of the stress we’re under, and the key cause of stress is worry

Worry is a mental and emotional response of concern or fear to vague or unspecified threats
And there’s scientific evidence that proves the effects that worry has on our health and well-being
So many of the diseases that afflict so many of us—like high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and even cancer—are directly related to the amount of stress we’re under and the amount of time we spend worrying about things that will probably never happen to us

So Jesus’ words are very true—we can’t add a single hour to our life by worrying

In fact, worry will effectively shorten our life rather than lengthen it
But the reverse is also true
Evidence has shown that not being a chronic worrier can add not only an hour, but perhaps even years to your lifespan

Worry is related to a shortage of hope and trust, and that’s the point Jesus is making in these words from the Sermon on the Mount

How we deal with issues that stress us is directly related to faith
While Jesus’ words about worry are stated in the imperative (as a command), that’s one law he gave that we have difficulty following today because we have a lot more to worry about
A certain amount of anxiety is normal because it spurs us to action, but we often allow our worries to cripple us so that we can’t act, and that’s when worry becomes counterproductive and jeopardizes our health and wholeness
It’s this kind of worry that Jesus is talking about

A Prescription for Faith

To help counteract the devastating effects that chronic worry has upon us, Jesus prescribes a two-part remedy

Part one of the remedy is “Seek first the kingdom of God”
An alternate translation of this verse is “Strive for the kingdom of God first.”
“Strive” means to exert a lot of energy and effort toward a goal, and “kingdom of God” simply means to do God’s will in our living
These words are Jesus’ summary of the teachings of the 91st Psalm
What Jesus is saying, in other words, is that rather than waiting for that far off day for God’s kingdom to arrive so that all our worries will disappear, we ought to actively work to build God’s kingdom here and now
And as we do, some of the things we fret about are going to become non-issues because we’ve got more important things to be busy with

Rather than worrying about things such as war and terrorism, we ought to busy ourselves with making peace because peace is a reflection of the kingdom of God

Rather than worrying about things that might go wrong in our life, we ought to invest ourselves in righting those things in our culture that cause injury and harm to others
There are a lot more creative uses for the energy we waste in worry, and as we learn to channel that energy in more creative ways helping others and seeking to do God’s will in the world, what we’ll discover is that we’ll have a lot less to worry about

The second part of Jesus’ prescription is to live one day at a time

It sounds simplistic, but it works
All we have is today; yesterday is gone and we can never get it back, and tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet
“This is the day the Lord has made,” declares the Psalmist, “let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:23)
When we make it a practice to rejoice in the gift of each new day and to use that day to serve God, we will find that we have less to worry about—no matter what that day happens to bring
We’ll feel better and we’ll live longer because we’re letting God do our worrying for us

Putting our hope and trust in God doesn’t mean that we’ll never experience worry again because some worry is unavoidable

What it does mean is that we’ll have a source of strength to help us deal with those things that cause our worry that’s greater than our own
Rather than expecting everything to go wrong and be caught in the trap of Murphy’s self-fulfilling prophecy, we can learn to focus on the good side of life and enjoy our days with greater health and happiness for however many days God gives us to live