Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - How to Measure a Life | The Writings | Psalm 62

Episode Date: May 23, 2024

How do you measure your worth? Is your life as big and important as you think it is? Would you rather your life be a big deal or not so much? In today's episode, Patrick discussing the measure of life based on Psalm 62. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Psalm 62

Welcome to 10 minute Bible talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. How do you measure your life? A follower of Jesus should always remember that he's made in the image of God. That's a good measurement for your life. You have inestimable value in the eyes of God. You, my friend, have inestimable worth.

Even better, Jesus laid down his life for you. He spilled his blood for you. could there be any higher price to pay, that is your worth. Now, those truths are the antidote to shame and insecurity. But they aren't the only thing that can be said about life, about measuring a life. Paradoxically, the Bible often seems to say the opposite of those things. In Psalm 62, today's Psalm, we read verse 9. Surely the lowborn are but a breath.

The highborn are but a lie. If weighed on a balance, they are nothing. together they are only a breath take two lives and measure them on a scale they will move it as much as a breath or at least that's what the author this psalm says which is to say they're valued at nothing now we know that sounds dark and get to the end of the episode before you make your judgments but first consider your life in the scope of eternity if you live to a long old age you'll be 100 years old well the earth is 4.53 billion years old you haven't even witnessed a four point five three billion years old you haven't even witnessed a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of its entire history. You may have dreams of changing the world,

but the truth is that you are a breath. The world will outlast you, and nothing you do today will stop it from spinning tomorrow, from existing tomorrow. I know that to some people this sounds like very bad news, but it's only bad news if you feel like you need to change the world to really matter. Christians know that we matter not because of what we do or what we achieve, but because of the one who loves us, because of the one who spilled his blood for us, because of the one whose image we reflect, there's actually a deep joy in accepting the limits to your life. You are a breath. But that means so is everything else. The person who's causing you problems at work, she's a breath. The problem itself, a breath. The stuff that you want and you work

yourself into anxiety over, it's a breath. The situation causing you stress, it's a breath. The psalmist knows our tendency. Some of us will want to say to this, but you don't get it. I have a lot of responsibility in my life. A lot of people depend on me. What I do is a big deal. I'm not a breath. But notice what the psalmist says.

Surely the lowborn are but a breath. The highborn are but a lie. Pause and reflect on that. The highborn are precisely the people who tend to think that they're too important to be a breath. And to them, David says, be careful because you aren't just a breath. The specific kind of breath you are is a lie. In other words, you may deceive yourself and other people into believing that you aren't a breath, but the truth is inescapable. Your life matters no more than the most insignificant life out there.

You too, no matter how much responsibility you have, no matter how much you have, no matter how important you think you are, you are a breath. Let that be a comfort to your soul. You don't have to be your own savior. You don't have to be someone else's savior. You don't have to put the weight of the world on your shoulders. You are a breath. And all you worry about is a breath. The breath goes in, the breath goes out, and then it's gone.

A breath is transient. I find it interesting that David transitions from this meditation on being a breath into a verse about misusing wealth and gaining wealth by not so good means. Verse 10, do not trust in extraordinary. or put vain hope and stolen goods. Though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. He understands that we extort and steal and amass wealth, in part because we forget that our life is a breath.

But once we accept the vaporous nature of our existence, then we can hold more loosely to the things that we have and the things that we don't have. Who would want to extort someone else for a breath? Who would want to steal from someone else for a breath? No one, because a single breath isn't worth that. much. So whatever you want or whatever you're tempted to lie and steal to get, remember that you're destroying your soul to gain a breath because that thing you want, it is a breath. It is not worth it. Now, again, I know what some of us will think, but this life is not a breath. What about the

resurrection? What about life after death? Well, I agree we'll be resurrected on a renewed earth, this earth renewed by the power of the spirit, but I never said that the life to come was a breath. What I said was that this life is a breath. And here's the best news of all. The life to come is not dependent on us. It's not dependent on our achievements, our successes, or our ability to change anything during this life. Our life to come is totally reliant on the unfailing love of God and his mercy in judgment. David continues in verses 11 and 12. One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard. Power belongs to you, God.

And with you, Lord, is unfailing love. And you reward everyone according to what they've done. This life is a breath. But the life to come is a reward that's been promised to you. So live loosely to the world around you. Don't take yourself so seriously. Don't take your stuff so seriously. You're a breath, a breath whose future is perfectly secured in Christ.

Thank you.