A Hundred and Twenty Years

The other day I had a short conversation with the wife of my chiropractor. I asked where her husband got the idea that mankind is supposed to live for 120 years? After all, his practice is always playing videos on how to maximize your life through a healthy lifestyle that includes, of course, chiropractic care. Many of these videos center around individuals from remote parts of the world who, through a simple and healthy life, are living well into their hundreds and still having active lives. I am all for trying to be healthy because our health can effect our outlook on life as well as our faith. And since my body is the temple of God, who indwells me, I would like to keep the "temple" in good condition. I never got a firm answer to my question. Therefore, I did some research myself and came across a verse in Genesis 6.

"Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years." Genesis 6:3

Perhaps this is the verse that he has in mind when he talks about the maximum lifespan for an individual. According to Wikipedia, since 1955, the oldest living person was Jeanne Clement. She lived to the age of 122 (1875-1997). That is incredible by today's standards. However, we all know that there are references to people in the Bible that document their ages well into the hundreds of years. In fact, Adam, the first man lived 930 years. That is over seven times the, apparent, 120 year threshold put forth by my chiropractor. Yet, the passage from Genesis seems to be taken out of context. God was displeased with the extent to which "man's wickedness on earth had become (Genesis 6:5)." He was "grieved that He had made man on the earth (Genesis 6:6)." His displeasure led Him to declare that He would "wipe mankind...from the face of the earth (Genesis 6:7)." With these statements as a backdrop, I am left to conclude that the declaration that man's days would be a 120 years is in reference to the time left before God would destroy mankind with a global flood not a cap on how long each of us can live.

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?... Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:25-27,34

One thing inherent in the pursuit of living to be 120 years old through "healthy" practices is the assumption you are promised another day. I spoke with a woman today who was beside herself with grief over the loss of her husband. As she put it he was a healthy, middle-aged, man who experienced a "sudden death." Most of us, including myself, are guilty of taking for granted that we will wake up in the morning. And to a certain extent we have to believe that in order to function in life. The alternative is a life lived in fear and dread. I am all for trying to add life to your years if not years to your life. However, we are all one heartbeat away from eternity. The issue is are you prepared for that eternity? As I told my chiropractor "We could live the healthiest lives possible, but we still die at the end." Jesus Christ reminds us that we are not to worry about tomorrow or, for that matter, a hundred and twenty years of tomorrows. While we may be able to rationalize being healthy in order to be better used by God, in the end, all God needs is us.

"On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:17

One of the centerpieces of the ministry of Jesus Christ were the healings He performed. The sick were made well, the lame made to walk, the blind made to see and even the dead were brought back to life. However, the greatest healing Christ offers to mankind is the healing of our dead spirits. A person can get eight hours of sleep every night, eat a diet full of fruits and vegetables, drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water a day and exercise three times a week, but never be able to make well that which ails them. All mankind is born with the "sickness" of spiritual death. The life of God once breathed into mankind at Creation was lost to us all through sin. However, through the death of Jesus Christ, the penalty for sin has been removed for eternity. This allowed God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to offer His life back to mankind as a free gift to all who come to Christ by faith. By doing so we are born again of the Spirit of God, raised from the dead, healed of the spiritual death that separated us from God. And even our physical deaths will not separate us from Him through all eternity. When you are in Christ, your goal is not to live to be 120 years old as a byproduct of a healthy lifestyle. Your goal is to make yourself available to God to live His life in and through you because you know the life you have is an eternal life.