JAMES 4:13-17 – “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”— 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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

THEME OF THE DAY: ONE LIFE TO LIVE ONE TIME.  Well, tomorrow we start writing “2026” on various correspondence.  And likely, we will have times of putting “2025” on said correspondence and need to correct our mistake. As we do, we should ponder what James is reminding us of in today’s scripture – the brevity of life.

Life.  It really does go by fast. Do two things if we need a little reminder.  First, look in the mirror.  We change. We see the smooth lines of youth fading and being replaced by wrinkles and lines of aging. It might appear slow, but it isn’t.  And it seems our society is obsessed with staying young!  Anti-aging products and procedures are big money industry. It makes Christians shake their heads and cry out with King Solomon, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity” (Ecclesiastes 1:2).  What folly to try and slow down the inevitable – the rapid pace of life and its decline.

Another reminder of the brevity of life is taking a walk in a cemetery.  Stop and read the gravestones. Reflect on the ages of the deceased.  They vary but none speak of a long life.  Even those with three digits.

So, what is the application for us?  It is simple, not easy, but simple – live the one life we have been given by the Lord for His purposes not ours.  He created us, then saved us, to release us from the bondage of living for this world, for ourselves, and the misery of such a sinful life.   What this truly means is that we need to understand that we only get one time to do life, and if we miss living it for the right things, it has eternal consequences.  But there is a positive by living for what matters first.  We discover not only the meaning of life but the joy that comes from living life with the right priorities.

We may be asking the question, “How do I start living this type of life?”  It all begins in our thinking, and one of the best places is the third chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians – “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4).

Yes, life goes by fast, and we only get one time to live our one life.  As we move into the new year, may the Lord help us ensure we are living for the right things – His will, His desires, and His purposes.

PRAYER: Lord, help me not to waste a single hour of the one life You have given me on trivial things.

REFLECTION:  God has placed us in this world for His purposes, not ours.  We are His on His mission.