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.
—James 4:13-14 (ESV)
Those verses have been stuck in my heart while reading James’ letter and even now still in the many days since I last had a chance to record. It’s one of those teachings in the Bible that I know is easily true in my mind and equally unsettling. How do I live day by day within such a worldview that my time is so fleeting and my long-term wisdom isn’t so wise, or even that long-term.
What are the practical means of being a responsible human, adult, husband, father, friend that isn’t reckless and unprepared in life, knowing that our time isn’t really ours and tomorrow isn’t ever actually in our hands?
Seek his kingdom first and stop worrying about tomorrow—Jesus said something like that. When I reflect on what I read in the gospels and these letters, there is a pretty clear narrative and theme. The world as we see and interact with everyday is not what is truly true. It’s just a glimpse of what is meaningful.
And it’s so momentary.
If we believe in the truth of Jesus—that Jesus, in fact, is the truth—then I think the actual question that we are left with is, “How true will I let it be true for me?” Every moment of every day of my life is a negotiation. I choose to live and plan and act on what I know I can do for me. Or, I choose to trust in what God has prepared for me. And if we’re very honest with ourselves, we’re very good at figuring out all the ways that the first choice is smart, responsible, and good in our eyes, because to choose to trust that God is completely in control and working all things out for me feels crazy, reckless, and truly, truly humbling.
What will tomorrow bring? We’re good enough at predicting some of the smaller aspects in life that we’ve convinced ourselves that we can actually know what the future holds. I find myself balancing between working towards building a good and decent life, and working out my faith in God who keeps telling me that he is the one who sustains all, with a purpose that is eternal and personal.
The question that comes to mind is, “What are the things in this life that I’ll be bringing to the next?” If this life of mine is about becoming what Jesus says I have become in the life to come, then what are the things I ought to pursue before my time vanishes like mist?
