I’m always fascinated by the lists that are generated at the end of every year, reviewing the previous 12 months. You’ll find the the year’s top films, top quotes, top sporting moments, top recipes. You can always find the What’s In/What’s Out list. Most of these lists are lame, chronicling the perpetual triviality that fascinates our culture. But one list never fails to get my attention: the list of famous people who have died in the past year.

This past week, World Magazine provided 9 pages honoring notables who have passed this life, including:

• Pope John Paul II
• Civil rights hero Rosa Parks
• Entertainer Johnny Carson
• Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist
• Theologian Edmund Clowney
• Actor Bob Denver (known to many as Gilligan)
• Civil War historian Shelby Foote
• Management guru Peter Drucker
• News anchor Peter Jennings
• Author Arthur Miller
• Closer to home, we grieved with hope when the Lord called home LeAnn Brickey

Every year, when I read a list like this, I wonder: “Will I be on this list next year?” Not literally, I know. I will never be famous, the world will never celebrate my life with a TV retrospective. I will mourned by a handful of friends and will be soon forgotten. But it doesn’t ultimately matter whether the end of my life is noted with a grand celebration or with an unmarked grave.

But the point is: I don’t know how long I have to live. While I’ll never be famous like the people above, we do have at least this much in common: the only thing that separating me from a Year-In-Review special is the grace of God. I thank God that he gave me breath this morning, because he may require my life of my tonight. And remembering that changes the way I live.

We don’t know how long we have left, so let’s live like we don’t have long at all. 2 Corinthians 5:9-10:

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Whatever New Year’s Resolution you make, let’s resolve to make it our aim to please him.

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