Jesus did so much in his short life of 33 year. This past October I turned 34. For the first time I can say of my earthly life, “I am older than Jesus”. James 4:14 isn’t very comforting when it says, “What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
How do we make the most of the little time we have?
By spending it on the things that last forever.
If we are going to spend our lives on the things that last forever, we need to get clear on what lasts forever. There are only three categories: 1. God (He alone has immortality), 2. Those who love God (God gives the gift of immortality), 3. Anything else that is leveraged for the sake of category 1 or 2. To make the most of the little time we have it should be spent on those things.
James 4:13-16 calls us to spend our lives on the things that last forever. I have three odd recommendations to help us apply these truths. (1) Shut the door; (2) Be thankful for your hair; and (3) Run with scissors.
Shut the Door
I will have a struggle. I’m not sure if it is a responsible trait or a mental disorder. It’s painful for me to waste anything. You can guess how I feel when there are subzero temperatures outside and the front door is left open. There is an acceptable amount of time the door should be left open for someone to slip in and out. Beyond this time, it becomes a frivolous waste of expensive indoor heat. That amount of time is right around 3.5 seconds. Most cold days my kids hear me say, “shut the door”.
I may have a disorder, but I also have a valid point that applies to the way we spend our lives. If we want to make the most out of the little we have, there are some things we must shut the door on.
Verse 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”
Look close at that statement. What do you find wrong? Is planning for the future wrong? No. Is a willingness to strategically relocate wrong? No. Is making a profit wrong? No. These are all best practices for responsible living.
Verse 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.
What is wrong with the statement in verse 13 is that none of it will last forever. So, none of it should be the goal of our lives. One day, both the city moved to, and the profit made there will be gone.
Some of the things we need to shut the door on are obvious. They are destroying our bodies, perverting our minds, ruining our relationships. We need to slam the door shut on these.
It gets tricky when we must shut the door on good things. Either it lasts forever or it serves a greater purpose that does last forever, or it is wasting our life and we need to shut the door on it.
Shut the door. What do you need to stop in order to make the most of the little time you have?
Be Thankful for Hair
The day before Thanksgiving I asked my kids what they were thankful for. Without delay my oldest daughter answered, “I am thankful for your hair.” I wanted to hear why. She said, “I am trying to appreciate things while I still have them, and you aren’t going to have your hair much longer.” To make the most of the little we have there are some things we need to stop. There are other things we need to treasure while we still have them.
Now is my time to thank God for my hair because now is when I have it. When I lose it, I can thank God for my skin. The thing we have now is the thing to thank God for and to leverage for eternity.
Don’t waste your youth or old age, your career or your retirement, your marriage or singleness, your parenting or childlessness, your joys or sufferings, your work or vacation, your health of sickness, your wealth or your lack.
The newborn baby and the elderly have this in common, they have life in this moment. One will die soon. The other will die sooner. But both can make the most of the little time they have.
Be thankful for hair. What do you need to treasure in order to make the most of the little time you have?
Run with Scissors
You’ve been told to never run with scissors. Why is that? There is a risk that you could cut something you don’t want to cut. There are times that the risk of running with scissors is worth taking. When the probability of reward outweighs the possibility of risk, we run. Sometimes it is riskier to stay where we are and do nothing than to run with scissors.
Verse 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
Notice the word “instead”. The alternative to the wasted life is the life lived in the will of God.
How did Jesus make the most of his short time on earth? He did nothing without the guidance of the Father. God’s will is worth running with scissors for because it will last forever. The reward of living in God’s will far outweighs whatever you might risk or sacrifice to get there.
James felt this urgency. Just before this passage James gave a warning against worldliness (4:1-12). Just after, he gave a warning to the rich (James 5:1-6). These are warnings against things that don’t last forever. He made appeals to desperation like, “weep sand mourn”(4:9).
How urgent is it to you that you spend your life on things that last? Is a life that matters worth giving up a meal? Going without sleep? Canceling some plans? Would you be willing to fast and pray and stay up all night, if you must, until you know that your life is fully surrendered to Jesus and no longer being wasted.
Run with scissors! What do you need to pursue in order to make the most of the little time you have? What do you need to risk in order to make the most of the little time you have?
Jesus didn’t have much time, but his 33 years were not wasted. His death was horrific, but it was not a tragedy. It was worth it. You might be older than Jesus, you might be younger. Whatever time you have left, spend all it like Jesus, on things that matter forever.