Have You Figured Out Your Future?

So, how are your brackets looking?

You know the one where you predicted Duke and Missouri to be in the Final Four of the NCAA basketball tournament?  Or for Michigan State to win it all?  What happened to your Cinderella teams! 

It’s always funny to hear the experts pick with such certainty who’s going to win.  Or advance to the final four.  Or win it all.  In the end they’re only guessing.  No one knows the future.

It reminds me of this Bible warning.  “Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (Jas. 4:13-15,NIV)

As we consider the future, James says or implies four things worthy of note.

(1) Consider the complexity of life.  Sometimes life is tough.  Times are hard. Decisions are difficult. Life is not always a straight line connecting one dot to another.  Relationships can be more complicated than we first thought.  Careers can prove more demanding than we anticipated.  Commitments can challenge us to greater involvement than we ever dreamed.  And decisions may have more far-reaching ramifications than we could envision.  Yes, life gets complex!  Who knew it!?

(2) Consider the uncertainty of life.  About the time we are smoothly sailing along thinking how easy our life is.  How calm the seas are.  How favorably and warm the winds are blowing.  A storm suddenly hits.  The seas become turbulent. The winds cold.  And the weather atrocious.  Sickness. Death. Divorce. Financial collapse. People make decisions that disrupt our lives. Circumstances change impact our cozy comfort zone.  The only constant in life is change!

(3) Consider the brevity of life.  The Bible compares life to a shadow that flees.  A flower that fades.   A cloud that disappears.  A tale that is told. And a vapor that vanishes.  Here today; gone tomorrow.  It’s more than a cliche’.  It’s so.  And it so true that we don’t know when life will end.  Babies die in infancy.  Young people suffer tragic accidents.  Middle age men and women suddenly die of heart attacks.  And of course, the aged will soon pass from this life.  You don’t know the future, because you don’t know how long you have to live.

(4) Consider the frailty of human beings. All of this implies the frailty of life.  Of us. We like to think we’re tough.  Strong. Invincible.  Ahh, not so much, really!  We are limited.  Finite. Mortal.  The Psalmist realized this when he wrote, “Lord, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, That I may know how frail I am.” (Ps 39:4).

The real point is…Don’t leave God out of the picture! He guides us through life’s complexities.  He can provide stability in the face of uncertainty.  He can offer eternity in place of the temporary.  And He can give you an immortal body to replace this mortal one.

Come on, quit trying to figure it all out by yourself!  You (and I) can’t even know for certain the outcome of a ball game!