Now only two of the five are still at home. I have close friends with grandchildren. Most people my age believe it’s too late to make a career change. Milestone birthdays that used to seem ages away look younger and younger all the time.
The US Census lists “middle age” as 35 to 54. Other sources peg it between 40 and 65. Either way, I’m a member of that team.
These realities prompt me to read James 4:13-17 with greater sobriety and clarity than ever before:
James tells us, 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. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
In a sense it would be just as presumptuous to say, “I’m far closer to death than birth,” as it would be to say, “I’m ten years away from being halfway there.” A point that James makes is that there is no way to know, and I ought not act like I do know. What I can know is that only God knows, and He characterizes my life as a mist, a vapor.
Interesting that after reminding us of the fleeting nature of time and God’s sovereignty over it, James concludes with, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him that is sin.” It seems that James intends for us neither to live like there is no tomorrow, nor to live like there are a million tomorrows, but rather to humbly recognize that God holds the future and to plan for it, using it wisely. To do otherwise is sin.
If we’re not careful, we may not only assume that we have years and years ahead of us, but even worse – we may live like it. The proper response to an awareness of the fleeting nature of life is not to cast off all restraint and go check off entries on some “Bucket List.” James 4 calls us to continue to be responsible and plan for the future. But in our planning for the future, we must realize that our lives are in God’s hands and the end could be very near.
As a believer, the awareness that my life is a mist should prompt me to live a far more prioritized life right now, not focusing on selfish exploits, but pouring myself out selflessly into the things that have eternal import. Some back-burner things should be moved to the front, and vice-versa.
I don’t know about you, but as I look back at how I’ve spent my life so far, I see much wasted time and many wasted opportunities. I should have pursued the Lord harder and more consistently. I should have loved more deeply. I should have shared more freely. I should have confessed and repented more quickly. I suspect I’m not alone.
However, faithful stewardship requires that we not dwell on failures He has already covered, but that we press on toward the prize. Faithful stewardship requires that we spend every day of the rest of our lives, whether one day or many, realizing what a gift it is and how fleeting it is. Faithful stewardship requires that we wring out every moment we have left in service and love, while eagerly anticipating seeing His face.
No matter when each of us are taken home, may the Lord find us doing just that.
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