Conveyor belts are a great invention that speed up the transfer of a whole variety of things from one place to another. They are efficient and convenient for a short distance. I grew up in a coal-mining town and I can recall several conveyor belts that took coal from the area where trucks dumped their loads, into the cleaner where it was processed, and then finally onto another conveyor belt which took the coal to be loaded into railway freight cars. Watching the moving material on the belt was fascinating to a boy who wanted to know things. I recall pieces of wood and the large as well as small pieces of coal moving up a long belt and disappearing into a black and dusty hole on the upper floor of the cleaning plant. The material was loaded onto the conveyor belt and the pieces continued to move up the belt as other pieces were added below in what seemed like an endless chain of coal. The opening in the building was the destination and the coal disappeared into that. When another conveyor belt brought the finished product out for loading, it was hardly recognizable. Our town produced briquettes as well as stocker coal that was ground into a uniform grade or size. It struck me that the newly loaded coal inevitably disappeared through the hole and further loads of coal became the "newly loaded" part. I was fascinated with the unstoppable progress of a piece of coal up the belt.
As the years of life are passing, there is an inevitability and a parallel that has become obvious. My mother is 99 years old and almost the last member of her generation in our family. A whole generation of human beings have passed through life and are now gone. Her children (including me) are now getting pretty close to the three score and ten that God states is the average (Psalm 90:10). A bonus of ten years is quite possible as our average lifespan is between 75 and 80 years of age. My mother has had a number of bonus years, but my father died at 60 years of age. Although there are some differences, the principle of the inevitability of our life coming to an end is before us. There is something constant about time and the slow march of our lives. I recall too that a piece of coal could fall off the belt prematurely from time to time - just as some people do not achieve the full lifespan for a number of reasons.
I could not help but think how similar life is to the conveyor belt I watched as a boy. We all are placed at the starting point of the conveyor and move inexorably along as the years pass by. As we come ever nearer to the three score and ten, the inevitability of the nearness of the end of our life becomes much more evident. Paul wrote that it was appointed to men to die once (Heb. 9:27). Paul also wrote about Jesus Christ obtaining a victory for mankind over death by His sacrifice. Paul uses words like "sting" and "victory" when referring to death (I Cor. 15:55). It is surprising how many times the death humans all face is mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. The book of Job has much to say as it reflects the thoughts of a man of God who truly felt he was facing death and was seeking answers. Right from the beginning of the Bible, the inevitability of death for each person is recorded. "Till you return unto the ground for out of it were you taken; for dust you are and unto dust shall you return" (Gen. 3:19). Job notes that there is an "appointed time" for humans and then he sleeps in the dust (Job. 7:1,21). Just as a piece of coal has nothing to say about where it goes, we humans also have nothing to say about the certainty of aging and the fact that none of us will get out of this world alive - we will all reach the end of the conveyor belt of life.
We are not like coal, however. Coal does not think, has no sense of fear and dread of the unknown or concept of eternity. We do! It seems that every one of us becomes aware of the fact that as we age, the end of the conveyor belt comes ever nearer. As children and young people, the length of the belt time lays before us seems quite long. As we pass the age of forty or fifty years, however, we begin to notice that the longer portion of the belt lies behind us, and the portion leading to the end of the line is getting shorter day by day. It is a natural reaction for most people to try to stave off the inevitable and to lengthen life if they possibly can. Most joggers one sees are not teenagers, The majority of those who visit health spas and exercise gyms are also not teenagers. A very large number, if not the majority, are past the forty year mark and are trying to preserve their youth in some way or another. It is precisely because we are human that we tend to try to dig in our heels and stop the progress of time as we near the end of the conveyor belt. We have a fear of the unknown - a fear of what happens after death. There are also plenty of people who exercise control over that fear by promising something beyond the grave, or by selling some product that will lengthen our youth and slow down the speed of the belt.
The realization that my Mom's whole generation has already slipped over the edge of the belt (and she is teetering on the edge) drives home the knowledge that my generation are also very near to the edge. We are next - so to speak. I look behind me and see my own children who are now in their forties and fifties - and their children who are in their teens and twenties --- and I see one generation preceding the other along this path of life. We generally do not like to think of these things, but we cannot escape them either, and the really sad thing is that we do a disservice to one another by not facing reality. We sometimes do not help a person face the end of their lives. There is a helplessness that we recognize and an inevitability that disturbs us all - when it comes to the nearness of the end of our lifespan. Satan knew how strongly a person will cling to life. When he asked for permission to attack Job and thereby discredit God, he knew how most people think. Satan said: "all that a man has he will give for his life" (Job 2:4). Satan was wrong about Job! In the stories about Jesus' deeds, there is one that tells of a woman who spent all that she had in order to live (be healed) (Mark 5:25). Health and therefore life are more than possessions, that is certain, for we have brought nothing into this world and will take nothing from it (I Tim. 6:7). It was God who designed the conveyor belt we are on.
To each human being, there is an offer and an opportunity to live forever. Eternal life is a gift God wants to give (John 3:15). The life we live has everything to do with the finished product. Mankind is to accept the offer of reconciliation that God places before us through Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:18,19). He also implanted in our hearts and minds the hope for eternal life and thus the abhorrence and fear of dying (Eccl. 3:11). When a person has no hope, death is a frightening enemy. It is frightening enough for any person. But once we accept the inevitability of a lifespan being limited and the possibility of living in eternity that has been offered as true and certain, we can have a much better attitude about the inevitable. We can know why David wrote that we can walk into the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil (Psalm 23:4). God is with a believer and His rod and staff comfort them. Paul stated that this hope for the future that we work toward by how we live our lives is an anchor for the soul (Heb. 6:17-20).
Human life is a precious gift from God and living it is the only way mankind can receive eternal life and become children of God. Rather than fear and shun this process, let us embrace and accept it - and be busy learning how to please Him who possesses the keys to eternity. Eternity lies before us all and this life will end. God wants every person to be saved. He built the conveyor and He develops the final product. Thanks be to God for the hope He offers and for the finished product He is determined to produce.