Tuesday, November 1, 2016

What is Your Life?

“yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
‭‭James‬ ‭4:14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The truth is, I want my life to be substantial. When I am asked the question, "What is your life?" I want the answer to be one filled with goals accomplished, plans made, and futures secured. Don't we all? But James doesn't give me much room for this substantial kind of life. He couches the question "What is your life?" between two realities that I cannot escape: I don't know what tomorrow will bring and I am a mist. No matter how I might plan, and goal set, no matter how brightly I paint my world; those two realities rule. In fact, there is not a person on the planet who does not live under these two realities, no matter how hard we might try to pretend otherwise. I have not for even one single day of my life ever known what tomorrow brings. Truth be told, I don't even know what an hour, a minute or a second from now brings! The truth of James words brings my 'substantial ' life crashing down around me. I am not the "captain of my ship" nor the "orchestrator of my world." I don't by the force of my will bring forth anything at all. All my plans can be quickly trumped by what I do not control, which in reality is everything.
     On the other side of this question, there is another reality: I am a mist. Now there's an encouraging thought. A thick fog might look substantial from my window, but one step outdoors quickly reveals that it is not what it appears to be. Even the densest fog, though it can obscure my vision, quickly succumbs to the wind or sun. Suddenly, the thing that appeared so substantial, simply disappears. My 'life' is in reality a mere wisp on.the screen. All my planning, all my future securing activity is a mist that quickly vanishes.
     So, what is my life? Should these realities cast me into despair? When this light shines on me, the foolishness of boasting certainly becomes clear. No matter how 'substantial' the plans and secured futures appear from this side of the window, my inability to even know if I will even be here tomorrow to enjoy them is humbling. Yet, oddly, it is also freeing because against this backdrop, James sets another truth: What I ought to say is "If the Lord wills...." My misty plans are not what I depend on at all. It doesn't matter that I do not know what tomorrow brings! I am in the hand of the One who knows, and who wills, and whose plans never fail. He takes my misty, planning without knowledge life and sets it in the backdrop of His work: eternal, unchanging, never failing.
     He loved my mist. He planned for my future. He set in place the means by which I which stand before him. This is substantial, it is real, it doesn't blow away or disappear with the heat. The goodness of the gospel, the fullness of His grace is again seen through new eyes. What is my life? What is your life? It is passing, yes. It is lived without knowledge of the next minute, hour or day, yes. But it is also purchased, planned for, and precious in the eyes of the One who wills and whose will cannot be turned or changed. We boast in Him.