James 4:13-14 (NLT)
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
As a whole, we take life for granted. We go about our daily routines giving little thought to whether or not our next breath could be our last. I’m not trying to be morbid or anything. In the words of a dear friend, “I’m just sayin’.” I find myself only thinking about such things when I’m riding my bicycle up to church and a vehicle comes within inches of sending me to see my Savior. Or I may find myself dwelling on it when I attend a funeral. Or read the obituaries (which I do every Sunday when my wife gets the paper for her coupons). But it's not part of my normal routine. Realizing that each day could be my last. That I’m not promised tomorrow. That I take many things for granted.
This section of the book simply challenges us to think about it for a moment. And I pass that challenge on you.
“Intellectually we all know that we will die, but we do not really know it in the sense that the knowledge becomes a part of us. We do not really know it in the sense of living as though it were true. On the contrary, we tend to live as though our lives would go on forever.” -Frederick Buechner
Author’s Note: for more on this topic, read pages 39-40 of Crazy Love by Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski
