Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"-- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16 ESV)
Time flies when you’re having fun but the reality is that it continues to fly even if you aren’t having fun. The relentless march of time moves on. Recently I read this, “Time cannot be stopped, saved, traded or slowed. Our choice is whether we waste it, spend it or invest it.” (Gene Wood. Leading Turnaround Churches. St. Charles, IL: Churchsmart, 2001, p. 163)
The half-brother of Jesus, James, addresses this reality at an even more fundamental level. First, time is ultimately not yours, it is God’s. Secondly, time is fleeting or transitory like the morning mist that quickly burns off in the morning sun.
We often make plans as if we are guaranteed another year. I just recently bought a new desk calendar, I ordered my 2006 Day-Timer refill and I updated my schedule program for 2006. Each of these actions assumes a very basic premise, namely that I will be around to do what I planned. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for planning for the future. I believe you should invest for retirement, save for your kid’s college education and have something in the bank for a rainy day. What is in question is my attitude as I make plans.
We are encouraged to remember that God hold each life. He has numbered our days and He is the One who sustains us from day to day. Each new day we have is a gift of God’s grace not something that is owed to us. It is His prerogative to say that today is the final day on this planet. When we plan (and we should make plans) we need to recognize the centrality of God’s Lordship over our lives.
Secondly, we need to realize how fleeting life really is. I’ve told people I don’t feel any different physically than I did when I was 18. I lift, run, play tennis and am as flexible as I was in high school. In fact, overall I am in better shape than I was in high school and stronger than I was in college (of course that could just be a sad commentary on my physical shape as a kid!). Having said that, I realize that I graduated from high school when Reagan was still President and that doesn't seem that long ago to me!
What should we make of this? Simply this, we need to make the most of our days knowing that we are not living for ourselves but are living instead for God. We must not be presumptuous to think that we have tomorrow guaranteed. We need not live in fear either because God is the Lord of tomorrow. Between abject fear and presumptuous arrogance is a humble confidence in the Lord who is over us. We submit our plans to the Lord and trust that He is the one who guides our steps and governs our days. We don't know what 2006 holds in store but fortunate for us we know the One who holds 2006 in His hand. Lord willing I will write again soon.
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