What power do you have?

In this world, what do we seek?

I think that many of the things we seek after ultimately come down to the desire to have more control - more power in our lives.
We all like to have a bit of power, and usually we’d like more of it. Even as children we wish for more power - many of our battles with our daughter at the moment involve the reality that she wishes to do her own thing no matter what’s going on or who that effects - she wants greater control and to exert the power she has. At heart though, aren’t we all the same as our girl? Aren’t we all stuck in a rhythm in which we desire more power and want our own way? We want the control and power to get life going the way we want it to.

One way we can do this is by seeking an increase of money because we want the opportunity to have different options, really wanting more control in our lives - the power to make different choices. Some desire to make their way up a career pathway, they will end up with more power and control as they increase in responsibility and influence. They then have power over others as well as themselves.

For myself, I have never desired to be the top of any career ladder, I have  not sought money, reknown or progression in the jobs I have had. So, you may think I have escaped this power-lust, but I haven’t. I am quite happy to be part of a team and work hard, yet I do not want the power or responsibility of being in charge. I am quite happy with being an assistant, not being top dog at work, because what I actually want is control over my home life. I do not want my life to be dictated to by work. So, you see, even this decision is showing that I desire authority and power, but over life outside work.
It seems that none of us can escape - we are all a bit power-hungry, no matter how we convince ourselves otherwise -  we all like control, we all crave power as we yearn to make our own decisions for our own lives. None of us are immune.

Considering this has caused me to consider - how much power do we really have?
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 8:8 (several translations coming up);

English Standard Version
No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

New Living Translation
None of us can hold back our spirit from departing. None of us has the power to prevent the day of our death. There is no escaping that obligation, that dark battle. And in the face of death, wickedness will certainly not rescue the wicked.

King James Bible
There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

Good News Translation
No one can keep from dying or put off the day of death. That is a battle we cannot escape; we cannot cheat our way out. 

These verses are all different interpretations of the same verse. They all show that our power is limited. Our ability to control or have power over things has boundaries. Over one of the true major events of life - we have no say. The day we die is already determined and it doesn’t matter how many ways we try to avoid it, elongate it or ignore it, we still have no power to change it.

Some of these interpretations state that we cannot ‘retain the spirit’. Our spirit, the essence of who we are, cannot be imprisoned or controlled, it will depart from our earthly body on the day we die. It cannot be held captive in a vessel that no longer breathes - it lives on, not aimlessly, but moves on to what is next - so where is your spirit going when the guaranteed event the comes to us all comes to you? What is going to happen to you when you die?

Well, there is good news - you do have some authority and power to choose the eternal destination of your spirit. It all depends on what you do now.

There are two options for your life after death -  With God or without Him.

It’s your call. You may not have power over your dying moment, but you do have the ability to choose where you are going afterwards. You cannot control how, when or where you die, but you can make a decision now that determines where your life hereafter will be.

So, where will it be?
Where are you choosing to go when you die?
With God? Without God?

You have the power and right to choose for yourself, it does not depend on anyone else to seal your eternal fate, this decision you have the power and authority to make yourself.
It is all about if you accept and live out the forgiveness Jesus gave when he died on the cross. If you believe in him, accept his forgiveness, and live out a new life in him then your spirit will live on with God. So, on the day of death, when the spirit is released from its earthly cage, you have a guaranteed future with God, and the reality of that day approaching should hold no fear for you even though you cannot control it.
What about if you don’t believe in God? Well, then, it is an eternity without God for you. As you choose to live your life now, without Him, so will your life after be. Considering that God is love, that’s not going to be a very pleasant place to be. Imagine living in an environment that is completely devoid of love, the complete opposite to a loving environment, that is what you are choosing for yourself.

Some may read this and think they will put on hold a decision about this, but you and I do not know how long we have to make that decision. You have no power to decide how long you have left, you may not have another chance to decide on your eternal destination, so what will it be?