Steve Austad is a professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center and he argues that someone alive today will live to be 150 years old. He believes that advances in nutrition and medicine will make this dream of his a reality. Fellow gerontologist S. Jay Olshansky disagrees with Austad’s premise and argues that there are simply too many risk factors that pile up by the time a person is 115 years old. “Our body design, although beautiful to behold, miraculous in design and astonishing in its complexity, was never intended to be operated in the laboratory of extended life,” Olshansky said. So in the year 2000, the two doctors placed a bet. Each put up $150 which Olshansky invested in a fund. The winnings will be handed out in the year 2150. If there is a 150-year-old alive on earth – someone of sound mind and body – Austad’s descendants will get the pot. If there isn’t a 150-year old person alive on earth, then Olshansky’s descendants will win. Olshansky has calculated that the initial $300 should grow to $1 billion thanks to his shrewd, but secret, investments.
The bottom line is that no matter how much money we have, no matter how much we try, we cannot put death off. What we can do to prepare, and to ease the sting of it is to grow closer to the Lord every day. When we do this, we don’t fear death as much. We know that soon we will be in the arms of the Lord, and in that thought, we find solace. The same principle applies to those loved ones we have lost. Let me add that even though we know that someone we love is going to meet the Lord, it’s OK to grieve and to miss them, Jesus did. The closer we grow to Jesus in life, the closer get to Him in death.
No matter how man tries to extend our lives, we will eventually die and appear before Jesus. Today in prayer, praise the Lord that after death we will see our Savior’s face and live with Him forever.
“He whose head is in heaven need not fear to put his foot in the grave.” – Matthew Henry
God’s Word: “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.” – 1 Corinthians 15:22
“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” – Hebrews 9:27
Pastor Mike Says 