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Sukkas are temporary structures.

They are places for people to live in for seven days.

They are decorated with branches and the fruits of the harvest.

There are sukkas that are built well and beautifully decorated. And there are sukkas that are plain and poorly built.

I remember in Shema’s earlier days when we used to build the sukka on the patio in the back of our house in Southfield. One year, after we built and decorated it, a strong wind blew it off the patio and it collapsed on the ground. Not good.

The truth is that we are like sukkas.

Our lives are short.

We were designed to be a place for God to live in.

Our lives can be well built and beautiful, or they can be unstable and ugly.

What makes us like a beautiful sukka? Two things.

First, having the Spirit of God live in us, and transform us into the image and likeness of Yeshua – being filled with the Spirit of Yeshua, walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit.

Just as a sukka is decorated with branches and the fruits of the harvest, our lives are beautified with the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self‑control.

Second, we’ll be like a beautiful sukka if we understand that, like a sukka, our lives in this world are short.

Abraham believed this. When he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith – living like a foreigner, living in tents … confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.

Job comprehended this: How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.

Moses wrote about this in Psalm 90: Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away… Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.

David realized this: Psalm 39: You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.

David in Psalm 103: Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die. The wind blows, and we are gone – as though we had never been here.

David in Psalm 144: People are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow.

Isaiah believed this and expressed it so beautifully: A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people.”

Ya’akov, James, the brother of the Lord, knew this: Your life is like the morning fog – it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.

If we understand that our lives in this fallen world are short, that this is not our permanent home, that life in this world that will pass away is the proving grounds for eternity – we will live wisely. We will live for God, for Heaven, for eternity.

The lives of many people, like Abraham, Moses and David were like beautiful sukkas. Whose life was the most beautiful? That’s easy. The life of the Lord Yeshua – who tabernacled among us and died at the young age of 33 or so, after accomplishing the greatest things.

How do we know if we’re becoming like a beautiful sukka? We will imitate the life of the Lord Yeshua. We will have His values. We will have His priorities.

We will be close to God, communing with Him by prayer, by talking to God, by being still and listening to Him speaking to us, and by reading the Word of God.

Doing what God wants will become more important than doing what we want.

More and more we will hate sin and rebellion. We will love obedience, righteousness, holiness.

We will be heavenly minded, not earthly minded. The importance of the things of this world will fade away. Heaven and eternal life will become a real, living hope. Our hope will get stronger and stronger.

We will care for people more and more and try to help them in various ways – especially spiritually.

We will have a burden for the lost. We will want to tell others the Good News about salvation and eternal life that comes from faith in Yeshua.

We will want to be with the Lord’s people, talking to them, encouraging them, helping them, praying for them.

Realize that life is short and we need to live it wisely – like the Lord Yeshua lived His life wisely. Imitate Him. Embrace His values and priorities. Be filled with His Spirit and you will be like a beautiful sukka.