Nothing Lasts Forever

I like my silver Mercury Milan. Bathsheba is her name. I’ve been rolling with her for almost 11 years, and she’s had my name for five. Being instructed by a father who believes in maintaining all your stuff so it lasts a little longer, best believe I try to maintain Bathsheba as best as I can. From scanning under her hood to getting her tires rotated every certain number of miles, she’s taken care of. She’s an old car(2008), but she runs as good as anything new.

But like all cars, my Bathsheba, bless her heart, has been having some problems lately. That problem is an annoying squeaking noise, which according to a recent check up, is of unknown cause. We’ll just have to wait to things get a little worse for the problem to be found.

Though I may not have wanted to hear it, my father explained to me that no matter how good we maintain something, everything grows old, even human bodies. Maybe not now, but one day I will have to part ways with this car that’s helped me get from place and been a life saver during extreme weather. As I went back up to my apartment with that reality check, I thought about what I had just read from my sabbath school lesson that day pertaining to Daniel chapter 2. In that chapter, the prophet Daniel explains King’s Nebuchadnezzar’s astonishing dream about a great image. The head was of gold, arms and chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay. Then a stone from Heaven struck the image at its feet, causing the image to break into pieces. A great wind carried the pieces away and not a trace of those pieces could be found anywhere. That rock morphed into a mountain filling up the whole earth. The metals of that image ,as Daniel revealed, represented kingdoms that would come one after another. Babylon was that head of gold. That rock and mountain represents God, who will set up an eternal kingdom. (Daniel 2: 31- 45)

How baffled King Nebuchadnezzar must have felt hearing that his glorious kingdom would not only come to an end, but that less powerful kingdoms would come after his. Not long after the interpretation, he built an entire image of gold to show how grand he was. Talk about pride.

The reality is nothing lasts forever. Car parts eventually wear out and the car breaks down. Humans bones ache, and our hair grey. Our talents can dissipate as we don’t practice, get older, or don’t take proper care of our bodies. Even the most powerful leaders, kingdoms, nations, alliances come to an end and are succeeded by others more or less stronger than them. Dare I say it, even successful marriages that withstand the test of time come to a close when a partner goes to rest.

As we go through life we must not be too proud of ourselves, what we can do, or the things we have. Upon this earth everything fades away. It is good for us to remember who gives us all our success, and whose kingdom we can look forward to partaking of that has no expiration date. That kingdom is of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.