“During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.” Acts 1:3 (NLT)

You’ve probably heard the question, “If you had one day left on earth, what would you do?”

Let’s change it up a bit: If you had 40 days left on earth, what would you do?

After Jesus’ resurrection, He remained on the earth for 40 more days. What did He do during that time?

“During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

While we don’t know all the details, we do know these 40 days of Jesus’ life on earth looked similar to His days before: He taught, served and spent time with His disciples.

If I knew I had only 40 days left, I’m pretty sure my life would look different than it does now. What about you?

Here are some questions we can ask ourselves to make sure we are on track:

• Who is in your inner circle? These are the people who show up with food when you’re sick, who call just to say "hi" and check on you, who have seen you at your worst and love you anyway. In the past 40 days, how much time have you spent with them? Our schedules reflect whether our relationships are a priority.
  
  
• What was your last conversation like? If your last conversation with your inner circle were truly your last conversation, would you have changed anything? In Jesus’ final earthly conversations recorded in Scripture, He reassured a doubting disciple (John 20:24-29) and reinstated one who needed forgiveness (John 21). These men had spent years with Jesus, and their last conversations with Him were game-changers.

• If the people in your inner circle had to describe how they know you love them, what would they say? In a day when we use the word “love” to express how we feel about tacos and coffee (guilty!), what sets apart our Christlike love for people? There are countless ways we can show our love through service, encouragement and more.

Your next thought might be, Well, if I knew I was dying soon, I would make sure I covered those bases. But the fact is that we may have 40 years, 40 days or 40 minutes … We don’t know how much time we have left.

Jesus came to earth on a mission. He finished His work on the cross and also lived every day after that with continued intentionality. From the beginning, He knew His earthly lifetime would be limited, though He lives eternally in heaven and will someday gather all believers to be with Him forever. Until then, what do we want our final days on earth to look like? Let’s start living that way now.

Dear Father, I ask that You help me live each day according to Your will. May everything I say and do bring glory to Your name and bless the people around me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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FOR DEEPER STUDY

Psalm 39:4, “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is” (NLT).

What’s one thing you can do today to show your love to someone important in your life?

If you knew your time was limited, what changes would you make?

We’d love to hear from you! Share your thoughts in the comments.

© 2024 by Anitha Abraham. All rights reserved.