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Here are two very significant theological statements that too few Christians understand:

(1) Life is not a giant bakery.
(2) People are not milk cartons.

How many times have you heard people say, when commenting on someone's untimely death (biblically, all death is untimely), “His number was up.” Huh?

My question is: What number?

Yes, the Bible speaks about “the bread of life,” but life is not a giant bakery, as in “Take a number.” In the bakery scenario, people wait with anticipation for their number to be “up,” so they can enjoy the jelly doughnut or whatever. But in life, no one wants to hear his number called and find a speeding bus inches away from him.

Or what about someone saying that he had a close call with death, but “It wasn't my time to go.” That could give special meaning to the ordinary question, “What time is it?” Your time. nooo!!!

And I ask, “Who sets that time?”

Yes, the Bible speaks of “the milk of the Word,” but people are not milk cartons. That means that no human being comes from the factory with an expiration date stamped on him or her.

I'm not sure what year it was that expiration dates began to be stamped on food products, but when you see something with a date in the next decade, don't eat it. The preservatives in it will not preserve you. What does preserve you, or at least give you the best chance of sticking around this life for a while, is learning the will of God from the Word of God, and doing it. God created mankind with genuine free will, and our choices play a major role in determining the quality, and length, of our lives.

If we hold to the Bible as the only source of truth regarding God, Jesus, and all spiritual matters, we will not find ourselves believing that people are milk cartons in a giant bakery, because those ideas are nowhere in Scripture. The Word of God does not say that He determines the time of a person's death. Legally, that would make Him a murderer.

God makes it clear, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear His Word, that He is love, that death was never part of His original plan, and that He wants all people to live and be blessed by having a personal relationship with Him and His Son, the Lord Jesus. God gave us genuine free will, and our choices in large part determine our quality and quantity of life on this earth.