Tomorrow.

January 13, 2021 (Wednesday)

 

Let’s take a look at a verse which is depressing, because it is accurate. Yet it has to be taken in “context” to what James is saying. “You don’t really know about tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for only a short while before it vanishes.” [James 4:14 CEB] Don’t you love it when you are reminded about how fragile and fruitless your life is?

 

Human pride thinks we are in control. But we forget, sometimes, that tomorrow is unknown. Seriously, who thought 2020 would turn out the way it had? A deadly virus sweeping the world is only for movies right? This has been a wakeup call, because there are even deadlier plagues lined up behind this one (according to the WHO).

 

On top of the uncertain, there is a certain weight to our lives. It is the weight of mist. I don’t think James was intending to be a “downer,” he’s only relaying the reality of the sum of our lives. People from history eventually get forgotten. Even world changers are forgotten. Need an example? Name the person that invented the wheel.

 

What James is tackling is pride and arrogance. Arrogance is “offensive display of superiority or self-importance” (dictionary.com). Pride in the negative sense is an out of balance opinion of one’s importance or abilities.

 

This shows up in James 4:13, “Pay attention, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such-and-such a town. We will stay there a year, buying and selling, and making a profit.” [CEB] This is human planning. The problem is our plan excludes God. It is based on our own efforts, talents, and resources. James points out in verse 15, our plans must depend on the Lord. If not then it is evil boasting (see verse 16).

 

Then James slides in a surprise twist. Again, it’s a verse often used by itself… meaning we miss the point. James insists. “It is a sin when someone knows the right thing to do and doesn’t do it.” [James 4:17 CEB] What are the good things to do? We are often left wondering because many of our minds are drawn to the “negative” (don’ts).

 

But’s let’s back up a bit. James 4:3, addressing why our prayers are not answered, diagnoses “You ask and don’t have because you ask with evil intentions, to waste it on your own cravings.” [CEB] One “positive,” implied from this verse is to check our intentions and cravings.

 

One of the best ways to do this is found a few verses later, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” [James 4:10 CEB] One way we fail in humility is when we sit in judgement on someone else (see James 4:11 – 12). Are you seeing a pattern yet?

 

The meaninglessness of life is because we spend life on things that have no eternal value. We feed what our culture tells us is “self-esteem” totally missing the desperate human need to seek God. Only in God do we find the “esteem” we seek.

 

Seek God. Seek the holy. Seek eternal value. Or you can live and vanish as a mist. Your choice.