Like a mist...

Never! Never, never, never leave God out of your life's plan!! Life's plan often collapse against the uncertainty of the future. Can you forsee what tomorrow will be like? If you do, then you foolishly pretend to take control of the direction our lives will take is courting disaster!

You might say, "Ahh, I'll live through tomorrow, then the next day, then the next week, then the next year." Well, how do you really know you will live through these "tomorrows"??

The students at Virginia Tech might have thought they would live through the hour of class then the rest of the day. It might be true at the moment, until... 32 students and one lone gunman are now gone. Just like that. It all happened between one second and two hours! Bam! The students were expecting to graduate from VT but they didn't. It was all cut short by one man. They were expecting to finish their finals in May but they didn't. They were expecting to enjoy the summer vacation or internship plans but they didn't.

"Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4:14 (niv)

Wasn't 9/11 in NY a wake up call?? You bet! Millions to billions of people lifted their eyes and hearts to the Lord seeking His comfort and guidance. Now, 9/11 happened a long time ago and people waned back to their old set of ways. What about the hurricane that pummelled New Orleans? Now, people have shaken off the dusty Bible and returned to a vigil service to remember their love ones at VT. Then life goes on, again. Eyes and hearts will leave the throne room of God, again.

So what will your life be like, "tomorrow"?

"Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow." (James 4:14a).

Again, as noted above, Paul warned against fixing our "hope on the uncertainty of riches." Now, if riches do not come because our plans fail, what will our lives then be like?

For those without God, very pitiful indeed; misery, regret, resentment and general unhappiness. People are always looking for "the sure thing" but few find it.

What is a "sure thing"? Definitions may differ; but here's mine. A "sure thing" would be something I want or need and of which I can be sure that I will receive it. I contend that there is really only one sure thing in this life as far as profit goes. Jesus said, " Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroys, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal." (Matthew 6:19,20).

Even if all my plans for profit and prosperity should go the way of the stock market crash and depression of 1929, I will still be able to retain my treasures in heaven which I accumulate by faith. My inheritance is there, and I am on my way to receive it. There is no other sure thing, for "we brought nothing into this world, so we cannot take anything out of it either." (1 Timothy 6:7). Nothing we gain from this world's riches is a sure thing. In fact, we can be sure that we will leave it all behind.

So, what will my life be like tomorrow? I don't know; it is uncertain as far as this world is concerned. But I am sure of something; if I do not squander my treasure in heaven through my lack of faith, it will be mine forever (1 Peter 1:4,5).

When Will Your Life End?

"You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:14b).

Another quandary for those who live without faith is not only the uncertainty of riches, but also the uncertainty of life itself. We are simply not here forever. In fact, relatively speaking, we are only here for a brief time.

Jesus once spoke a parable to warn His disciples against greed. The subject of His parable was "a certain rich man" who owned some very productive land. He died at the time in his life when he was about to take his ease due to his tremendous prosperity and live in luxury off his accumulated riches. His riches outlived him. Jesus concludes by saying that the man had been a fool and "So is the man who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:13-21). That we will awake to see another tomorrow is only an assumption, and the day will come when it will be the wrong assumption.

Let's not assume anything about tomorrow and on. Let's allow His Word to be wrapped around our lives as tightly as possible that hope cannot be denied!