John MacArthur said, “We live in a day when people worry about how long they will live. That’s a harmful practice because you can worry yourself to death but not to life.” Kathy and I were sitting on our swing in the front yard, worrying about how long we were going to live this morning. Would we see all of our Grandsons grow up and marry? Will we see their children? My Dad died at age 64. When I passed that age, I became more alert to my mortality. My Mother died at age 72. When I passed that age, I became more alert to my mortality. You might say, I began to plan for my demise. We talk a lot about healthy living and how it could impact our life span. Worrying, however, does nothing. Of course, it’s Jesus who gives us the truly authoritative teaching on the uselessness of worry. The translations differ in their rendering of Jesus’ question in Matthew 6:27. Some argue that the question should be “Who can add one cubit to his height” (See KJV, HCSV, AV, and ASV). Some translations say it refers to adding a minute to one’s lifespan. The ESV translates this question as “Which of you, by being anxious, can add a single hour to his span of life?” The point is worry won’t accomplish anything of any value. Either translation makes the same point: worry won’t make you taller, nor will it make you live longer! It accomplishes nothing favorable and brings all kinds of negative results to our health.
The fountain of youth, or eternal life, is something we have all thought about, and there have been times when we’ve searched for it. Back in the 16th Century, the Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon set out to find the fountain of youth. I think he landed in Florida. If you would visit Florida today, you’d know there is no fountain of youth there! The age of the population of Florida is higher than the national average. (Think about it!). But the wisest man in the world, Solomon, informs us that although there is no fountain of youth, there is something that’s really much more important. Proverbs 14:27 says, “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning people away from the snares of death.” But my favorite verse talking about our longevity is in Proverbs 9:10-11. It leaves nothing to the imagination when it says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by Wisdom, your days will be many, and years will be added to your life.”
One way to view “the fear of the Lord” is to understand it as faith, trusting God to do what God does best. He is much better at handling all the things that are outside of our control. We know that God is sovereign when it comes to the years of our lives. No one knows when our day will come, but we do know it will come. But we also know that God has good plans for us, and He has blessed us with life and truly wants us to enjoy it. The only way to do that is “one day at a time.” Jesus concludes His dissertation on worry in Matthew 6:34. There, He says, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”