Irvin Wasswa- Tylertown Campus Pastor LHBC
James 4:13-15
13 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”— 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that
You most likely remember the ol’ sound by the great Tim McGraw back in 2004 entitled “Live Like You Were Dying.” The song highlights a story about a man in his forties who gets the news that his father has a life-threatening illness. In the song McGraw explains all the things the father tells the man to do, from skydiving to riding a bull named Fu Manchu. He also shared in the song that the man chose to love deeper, he chose to forgive those who wronged him, along with choosing to treat those around him more nicely. The point of the song was to emphasize the reality that everyday you ought to live as though you are dying, making the most of your time!
Now that Tim McGraw song is not a worship song by any means, but within the song there is some truth that’ll surely preach. The truth is that all of us are dying. Death is a reality for all of mankind (Hebrews 9:27). Now, that sounds like “gloom and doom”, but the truth is that as each day passes, we are closer to death than we were yesterday. In light of that reality we ought to look to make the most of the time, I.E., Live like we’re dying.
James describes our time here on earth as “a mist”. The truth is that our time is short, therefore the call for us is to make the most of it. How does one do that?
- Invest in what is Eternal: Life is too short to live your life investing in the temporal. Life is too short to live your life solely in pursuit of possessions that are just going to fade away one day. Instead choose to invest in that lifegroup, invest in that mission trip, invest in that young Christian. In doing so, you are investing in eternity.
- Invite People to Church and to Christ: With the limited time we have here on earth, we ought to choose to be about the mission to share the Gospel with our lost friends and neighbors. We ought to be urgent about inviting them to Christ and to the church. The one thing that we won’t be able to do when we die and go to heaven is evangelize. Make the most of the opportunity to do so now. There are still people who need to come to Christ. Be a good steward of the time you have left and let them know about Jesus who came to die so that they could have life.
The great man of God, C.T. Studd says it in this way:
“Only one life, twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”
Life is like a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow. The question is what are you going to do with the time you have here? Let us choose to do the will of the Lord, glorifying Him by investing in things that are eternal, and inviting people to follow Jesus and come to church.
PRAYER FOR TODAY: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for your love. Help for me today to have an awareness to understand that my time here on earth is short. Help for that understanding to motivate me to make the most of the time I have, investing in your Kingdom and making disciples. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
MEMORY VERSE OF THE WEEK:
Isaiah 12:2:
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God[a] is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”