How Much Time Do I Have Left

​“How much time do I have left?” Like me, you have probably had this thought. Particularly, as we get older, we wonder how long we have left on this earth. Of course, nobody knows for sure how long our life will be except for God (Psalm 139:16), but the Bible has some interesting thoughts on how long a person lives. 
 
Genesis 6:3 indicates that a typical person will live to be 120 years old. Genesis 6:3 says, And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” Life spans have been increasing due to better diet, improvements in infant mortality, and advanced medical care. As a matter of fact, the oldest person in the world alive at the time of this writing is 117 years old, and the oldest person in the last hundred years was Jeanne Louise Calment, who lived to be 122 years and 164 days old, according to Guinness World Records.
 
Yet Psalm 90:10 says, “ The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years.” This seems to tell us that the typical person will live 70 years, and possibly eighty years. 
 
Is the Bible wrong? Is the Bible contradicting itself? Of course not. When Genesis 6 was written, life spans were much longer than they are now. The Bible records many individuals living for hundreds of years. The oldest person listed in the Bible was Methuselah at the age of 969. Many scientists believe that the earth had a different ecosystem with more oxygen in the atmosphere back then, and that ecosystem was disrupted by the Flood (by the way, Methuselah died in the Flood). After the Flood, people lived dramatically shorter lives, and that average life span has gradually become longer as the millenniums have gone by.
 
But still, Psalm 90:1 says, “The days of our lives are seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years,” yet people today live to be much older than 80 years old. I remember asking God about these two verses and the seeming contradiction. I felt like He said to me, “Steve, instead of reading it as, “The days of our lives are seventy years…., read it as, “The life of our days is seventy years, and if by reason of strength they are eighty years.” 
 
Instantly, it made complete sense to me. The life of our days, the vitality, the energy, and the impact of our lives is typically about 70 years. If you think of an average 70 year-old person you know, they are probably retired and are not having a lot of influence. While they may live a meaningful life, the power and impact of their lives is mostly over.
 
There are some people who are still vibrant and effective at 80 years of age. You may be able to think of someone who is an example of this. What I have found is that someone who is older than 70 years old and my friends who are over 70 years old, who still have energy, influence, anointing, and effectiveness have a strength about them that ordinary people do not have. Whether it is physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental strength, they have strength in one or several areas that is far above the “normal” person. This strength extends the life of their days. There are even exceptions to this of people who have “incredible life” even after 80, but they are very few.
 
God wants us to have life in our days for the longest time possible. That is one of the reasons He tells us to “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” (Ephesians 6:10). I believe God wants us to increase our strength in many areas so we can lengthen the life of our days and have a godly influence on those around us.
 
You see, the real question is not how long will we live on this earth, but how long will we have a meaningful impact and build God’s Kingdom?  I want to encourage you to really think about how many years you have left and how you can become “stronger” and make the most of them, by doing God’s will, and building His Kingdom.
 
“80 if by strength.” We only have so much time. Let’s start now!!