Four Considerations For Your Life

Yesterday morning when I turned on the news I learned of the death of troubled country music singer Mindy McCready from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  She leaves behind two sons, 6 years old and 10 months.

Then after returning from the hospital and visiting a sister having surgery, I checked facebook and learned that two my friends suffered the loss of loved ones.  Our prayer list is filled with good people who are sick.  Suffering.  Fighting seriousness disease.  And dealing with terminal illness.

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 our lives and think about 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 the impact of 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 is so true that we don’t know when life will end. Babies die in infancy. Young people suffer tragic accidents. Middle aged 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 fragility of life. Human beings are feeble. Frail. Fragile. All of this implies the infirmity of our fleshly nature.  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 this.  Don’t leave God out of the picture! He will guide 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.

And so when faced when the stark reality of your own mortality, you can echo with faith and hope the words of the apostle Paul, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”  But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman