For a Little Time

"What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14)

Such a solemn reality it is to ponder: the brevity of life. Yet this reality is so compact with joy. I live each day and in the midst of each trial knowing that my time here on earth will soon be done, and that I will stand before the throne of my glorious Savior forever. What has a Christian to fear about death when eternity lies but a footstep away? Little to nothing, I suppose.

But our vapor of life must not be wasted. We should not live our lives as the atheist does, spoiling ourselves on the riches and pleasures of this world without any thought for God. James' rebuke to the New Testament recipients came because they said to themselves, "we will go... and do this or that" (v. 13), but never saying, "if the Lord wills" (v. 15). The believers sought to follow their own desires but never stopped to ask what God desired.

My friend, life is short. It should not be wasted merely on the satisfaction of oneself but fulfilled with the goal of "[doing] all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Do you live as one who seeks his or her own pleasure without any contemplation of God's will? Do you seek to satisfy your flesh by glorifying yourself? Or do you seek to glorify God by finding satisfaction in Him? "Set your mind on things, not on things of the earth" (Col. 3:2). We ought to live each day, seeking to magnify Christ in our bodies "whether by life or by death" (Phil. 1:20).

We find the strength to live this kind of life not in ourselves but in our Savior. Christ the Lord, in the midst the Garden, pleaded for the Father to "let the cup pass from [Him]," but then said, "not as I will, but as you will" (Matt. 26:39). Jesus saw the will and glory of His Father as more desirable than any alleviation from the trials of the cross. As Hebrews says, Jesus, "for the joy set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, [thinking the shame as nothing compared to that future joy,] and sat down at the right hand of God (12:2).

In seeing Christ, we have hope. We too can "run with endurance" for the glory of God and the good that awaits us (Heb. 12:1). However burdensome this road may be, you can know that there is a "far more exceeding weight of glory" for you in eternity (1 Cor 4:17). A vapor this life may be, but how glorious it shall be when the fog is removed and we will see Christ face to face. We will behold Him whose glory is all we seek and in Whom true delight is found.