Bulletins
"What is Your Life?"
In James 4:13-14, James writes the following: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away."
Many times, this verse is used to point out the brevity of physical life - and the verse definitely says that! “A vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away”…is definitely trying to teach us that we need to recognize and understand the “brevity” aspect of life. But in verses 14-17, James points out that there is more to his instruction than just making sure we understand the “vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” part.
In verse 15, he tells us what we ought to say, instead of proclaiming what we are going to do! We ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” Then, in verse 16, he tells us we ought not be so pretentious as to boast about what we have declared that we are going to do, arrogantly leaving “the Lord” out of our plans and proclamations. Verse 17 reminds us that when we know the right thing to do and don’t do it is sin.
The “brevity” part of the verse in James always makes me think of an Old Testament passage in Ecclesiastes 9. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in death...” There is a dilemma, that presents itself to many people, between these two verses. That dilemma is that in youth we don’t always recognize the “brevity” of life. We are overcome by the responsibilities of life… raising a family, going to work, paying the bills, etc. We will worry about “those things like that when we have more time.” Time passes, and we decide we are “too old," and we “retire” because that’s what folks our age do. And sometimes we retire from everything!
Recently, I read the results of a medical study that was done several years ago. The study found that the most productive age in human life is between 60-70 years old. The second most productive age is between 70-80. The third most productive age is between 50-60. (New England Journal of Medicine) A book review on the same subject found at age 60, you reach the height of your potential, and this continues into your 80s. Somewhere between 50 & into your 80s you might just have the best opportunity in your life to produce meaningful spiritual service for Christ and His Kingdom! (By the way: You don’t need to wait until you are 50 to get started!) START WHERE YOU ARE! - START NOW!
