Quail Lake Community Church

Daily Devotional #1,621

Louis Prima was a great musician from the last century. His music is still around and is considered some of the best jazz and swing music ever recorded. My generation remembers him most for doing the voice of King Louie of the apes in the Disney feature “The Jungle Book”. I was watching reruns of an old TV show and it closed with a song that he made famous years ago. It was titled “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think)”.
The chorus goes like this...

“Enjoy yourself
It's later than you think
Enjoy yourself
While you're still in the pink
The years go by
As quickly as a wink
Enjoy yourself
Enjoy yourself
It's later than you think”

It’s a cute song and it is a good reminder to us that the years do go by quickly. The song tells us that we need to enjoy ourselves, because it is later than you think. I thought about that and I sure want to enjoy the years left, but I got to thinking about what comes next. Life here does come to an end...on planet earth. The Apostle Paul recognized, like Prima, that the years go by fast. But his take was that if you are a follower of this Jesus of the Bible...that you will want to invest your time in light of the knowledge that God is going to either wrap up your life or he is going to wrap up this whole humans on earth drama. Paul never says don’t enjoy life, but he says to get out there and love God and love people and by doing so, fulfill the requirements of God’s law. Because time is running out and Jesus promised that he would return and today we are one day closer to that event than we were yesterday. So don’t be afraid to enjoy this life...it is a wonderful gift from God...but like the Bible says...get rid of the dark deeds...dump them like dirty clothes and get about doing the kind of living that God wants you to bring to this world and to honor him. Do all the good you can while you can. Because like the song...and the Bible say...It’s later than you think.

Here’s our Bible verse for today...

Romans 13:10-12 NLT Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. (11) This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (12) The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.

Remember I’m praying for you!
With love, PJ