To Encourage You

James 4:14 “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”

My daughter said something to me awhile back that I’ve been thinking about ever since. We were at a Pittsburgh Pirates game.  There were probably 20,000 people there or so.  It was as we were taking in the game that she said to me “Dad, do you realize that in 100 years from now, all of these people will be gone?”  And she was right about that. Oh, maybe one of two will still be living – perhaps a baby, but other than that, everyone that was in that  stadium that day will be gone.  Even more sobering, when you think about it, and to make it even more certain, in 120 years from right now, everyone that is alive right now, will be gone – every young person, every old person, every movie star, every sports hero, every rich person and every poor person, every business owner, every president or leader of any country, everyone, without exception, no matter what nationality, race, religion, social status, gender, or age, will be gone.  That’s not really something that it’s nice to dwell on, but it’s true, and it’s a truth that should impact our life.  We are passing away.  Our time is short, and as we are told in James 4 above, we are like a mist that will soon vanish.  However, the eternity that awaits is anything but a mist.  And that fact should also impact our life, and impact it in a major way. 

While we know that death is certain for everyone, we might not give much thought to the fact that it is certain for us, and the time is coming sooner than we might want to consider.  It’s on the basis of this fact that God has warned us to “look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18).  And it is by way of God’s Word, and only by God’s Word that we know about eternity.  And one of the most important things it says about this is found in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

So, on what are your sights set, in light of this? Are you reading God’s Word?  Are your eyes set on eternity?