What Is Our Life?
Good Morning Friends,
If the Lord does not come first, all of us will die someday. And my guess is that it will come much quicker than expected. Life goes by so unbelievable fast, so it is pointless to boast about our plans for tomorrow, for we could be disappointed or worse yet dead. The only way to get through all the silliness is to let the Lord have His way in our lives. You see, we are not in control. It is stupid to complain or pray for one big miracle or to brag about the plans we have made without God. The problem is that it is all too easy to make a fatal mistake. With that in mind we ask one of the deepest of all questions. What Is Our Life?
Scripture: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.
James 4:13-17 (NRSV)
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us.
Mark 9:38-40 (NRSV)
The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps.
Proverbs 16:9 (NRSV)
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16 (NRSV)
Message: Yesterday I saw some boxed and cut roses that supposedly would last for nine months. Perhaps they were genetically engineered like the Amazon Apple that does not bruise or had a chemical compound in them that forestalled the process of decay. I guess they will have a market, for people do so like things that last. But a world where nothing rotted would have consequences that might seem like heaven but end up being more like hell. We might think it would be great if things could last forever, if clothes would never wear out and cars would never break or rust and batteries would never need to be replaced, but that is not the world we live in or the image of scripture. In fact, it is Jesus’ death that sets us free. Friends, we are as earthen jars. The problem also is that we all make miscalculations about timing and about trusting in the right things. We look on the outside and not the inside. We fail to realize that the Lord is in control. Friends, we are to show our trust and dependence in the Lord when it comes to our life. We are to submit. We are not to even trust in ourselves. For a person who trusts in themselves has seriously miscalculated. A person who trusts in others has miscalculated. Our trust must be in the Lord of all creation. And that brings us to today’s question which James answers with one word. We are a mist or what might be translated as a vapor that appears for a short while and vanishes away. Friends, life is short and it will be gone before you know it. The message is clear. Whatever plans you have, if it is the Lord’s will, it will happen. If it is not the Lord’s will it will not happen. Our life can exert itself but ultimately it is in the Lord’s hands and our trust should be in Him. When we scheme and maneuver and plan without God, it shows we do not trust Him to direct our lives. However, when we trust the Lord, we will call on Him for help and direction rather than act as if He did not exist. Friends, some would answer today’s question by saying that their life is power or pleasure or money or family and they all have their place, but ultimately because life is so short, we need to submit to God’s will and let God be the King of it. Life is short. So, enjoy it, but remember that ultimately our life is in the Lord and our actions to glorify God are the only ways of investing in what really lasts.
Pray we not trust in ourselves or in riches or in some scheme or even in people but instead put our trust in God. Pray we have the right decision-making process and the right timing. Pray we are not guilty of pride and presumption. Pray we saturate ourselves in scripture and live for the glory of God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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