Read through the Bible in 2 Years: 1 Kings 5-7.

My husband and I will celebrate 30 years of marriage this winter. To some of you, that sounds like forever, but to others of you that doesn’t sound like so long. For me, it’s hard to remember life without Bill. It feels like we’ve always been together, but when I really think about it, I know that’s not true.

For whatever reason, 480 years jumped out at me in my reading.

In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.

1 Kings 6:1 ESV

480 years. Four hundred and eighty YEARS. 480 years had passed since the Lord had delivered His people out of Egypt until Solomon had begun building the temple.

As I write this, we are in the year 2024. 480 years ago it would have been 1544. 1544. Whoa! That was a long, long time ago. That was before the invention of electricity and the steam engine. That was before Beethoven was born or America was founded.

Just think about some things that happened in the 1500’s.

• Copernicus published his theory that the sun, rather than the Earth, was the center of the universe.
• Sir Francis Drake circumnavigated the globe.
• William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet and King Henry VIII was the king of England.
• Martin Luther wrote the Ninety-Five Theses, demanding reform in the church.

480 years is a long, long time, but it’s only a quarter of the time that has passed since Jesus walked on earth and was crucified and buried and rose from the dead, and it’s just a drop in the bucket in light of eternity.

There are only two paths in life, and everyone is on one or the other. There’s the path of eternity with God, and there’s the path of eternity without Him. The path you’re on in this life will determine your path for eternity. Jesus is the doorway you must pass through to have eternity with God. As we’re told in John 14:6, Jesus is “the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through (Him).”

Which path are you on?

How are you spending the time God is giving you now? Wisely or foolishly?

Heavenly Father, You are eternal. You are outside of time. You are without beginning and end. But  the number of our breaths, and our days on earth, are numbered. One day judgment will come for each and every one of us. In fact, today could be my last day here. I don’t know, but You do. Teach me, Father, to number my days that I might have a heart of wisdom. Help me to spend my years for the things that will matter for eternity. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer, I pray. Amen.