The Brevity of Life

James 4:13-14: "Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' 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."


It is amazing to see how we can get so wrapped up in the busyness of this earthly life and forget that life not only is a gift from God but is very brief. I remember growing up as a child, hearing my grandparents tell me how time moved more quickly the older they became; and now that I am getting older myself, I can see their perspective more clearly. Time does seem to pass more quickly. It seems like just yesterday that I graduated from high school and that was nearly 25 years ago!


So too, I am reminded each time I attend a funeral service of the uncertainty of the time we are given on this earth. To be sure, the Word of God tells us that the Lord has predetermined the number of our days before the first one came to be (Psalm 139:16); still, we are not guaranteed to live a long, healthy life on this earth. Just yesterday, I attended a funeral service; and at its conclusion, I took a few minutes to look around at the headstones to see the names and epitaphs inscribed on them (I find this very interesting). One particular stone had the deceased person's picture on it, and this intrigued me . . . so I made my way over to take a look. This young girl was born in 1952 and lived only ten years. Her picture seemed to show a healthy, young lady who emitted a radiant smile that projected hope, happiness, and great expectation for her future. I wondered what caused her untimely demise . . . was it an accident? an illness? I also noticed that the people buried beside her had the last name (which I presumed to be her parents). I wondered about the grief that they endured as a result of their daughter's death. Did her death hasten their own?


Each time that I walk through a cemetery, I am reminded of the brevity of life and the foolishness of our exhausted energies in trying to attain the vanities of this life. Maybe this is why so many people are uncomfortable with talking about death; it may very well be that avoidance is the mechanism that people use to divert any reflection upon their mortality and the ultimate loss of everything accumulated here on this temporal earth. For if one recognizes that he is not long for this world, and if he concludes that there is a Sovereign Lord to whom he will be responsible, then there is a decision now to be made as to whether that person will surrender to the Lord and follow Him . . . in this life.


Possibly this is why James, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, would follow the above cited verses with the following verse: "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins" (4:17). In the preceding verses, the context suggests the sinful presumption of a person who boastfully believes that he has plenty of time to do what his heart desires. The scriptures calls this presumed arrogance, "evil." And this presumption assumes that one has plenty of time to dedicate later in life for God, which supposedly frees him to pursue the temporal pleasures and not worry about God's expectations for him.


Scripture commands us to do all things at all times for the glory of God (I Corinthians 10:31). We should never forget that life is a gift and is never guaranteed. We should not take the time that we have for granted and consume ourselves with the vanities of life; rather, we should serve the Lord passionately and faithfully.


Maybe each of us would do well to visit cemeteries on regular occasion. Whereas it may not be a comfortable experience, it may be a beneficial one . . . reminding us that we may find ourselves in the Lord's presence soon (and with the way time passes, it will be sooner than you think!). This will remind us that we need to be committed now to Christ above all other persons and things.