The X Factor

UV 1661/10000 The X Factor
For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

Proverbs 9 v 11

This uni-verse holds the secret of longevity as well as productivity. Without Jesus we are zero, with Him, we are hero. He multiplies the days and fills our right hand with length of days and our left hand with riches and honour. By Him, days which would otherwise have been filled with misery, trouble and weakness are filled with peace and grace. Though we live finite lives with measurable strength and limited knowledge and ability, He will enable us to experience the infinite riches of His wisdom and knowledge. He adds life to our years and years to our lives. He knows the number of the days we will live even as He knows the number of our hair. Before a day begins, He knows the direction it will take and how it will finish. The Lord renews our youth and strength as we grow older and thereby, increases our years. Faith enables us to be productive and useful well into old age. When our ears are inclined to hear His Word and our minds are devoted to meditating on it and our hearts on treasuring it, our years will be extended. We will flourish while others will perish. Other rulers through history divided their subjects and ruled but Jesus alone multiplies us, our blessings and our influence as well as impact.
The number of people on earth today is 6,775,35,842 including you and me in the last digit. If you calculate this number as a ratio of the 300 sextillion stars in the universe, it is a decimal of insignificant value. Yet, you and I are more significant than all the stars put together. We rule the stars and not vice versa. We derive our significance from our relationship with our Father and Creator through our Redeemer Jesus. We number our days as we are excited to see Him in all His glory face to face without the veil of our fleshly life and its limitations. Yet we desire to life a life that is long and full so that we do our utmost for Him in this earthly sojourn. Like St Paul, we believe that to live is Christ, to die is gain. We do not cling onto this life and the things of this world but we cling onto the Lord.
The Lord gives us wisdom, knowledge and understanding in abundance to make our days productive and our lives fruitful. The so called secular literature does not factor in the X factor of the grace of God in making our lives productive and impactful. A person without faith is like a bird without feathers. It is feathers that define a bird as a bird and enable it to fly. Similarly, it is faith in the invisible but ever present God that enables us to sprout feathers and equips us to take wing in prayer and the Word every day of our lives. Without faith, we will be vulnerable as new born birds that quiver in the heat and cold of the day. Without faith, we will be like the well dressed broiler chicken ready for the enemy to make a good meal of us. He uses us whether we are many or few. Faith, imagination and creativity are a winning combination that will unlock many doors for us. Jesus is the X Factor or the Factor which when multiplied into us can cause one to overcome or put to flight a thousand and two to put ten thousand to flight. Of Him, by Him, with Him, for Him, our days are multiplied, and our years are increased.
Prateep V Philip