Hello Tomorrow!
"Now listen, you who say, 'Today or
tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business
and make money.' Why, you do not even
know what will happen tomorrow. What is your
life? You are a mist that appears for a
little while and then vanishes." (Js.
4:13-14)
A man
had a checkup and then went in to see his doctor to get the results. The doctor said he had bad news and worse
news for him, which kind he wanted to hear first? The man said he'd rather hear
the bad news first. The doctor said, "The bad news is that you only have
twenty-four hours to live." At this the man jumped up, totally
flabbergasted and distraught. He paced
the doctor's office and complained, “Twenty-four hours to live? I can't possibly get my affairs in order that
quickly. I can't believe this, it is
incredible! What could be worse news than this?"
The
doctor said, "The worse news is that I was supposed to tell you this
yesterday but I forgot."
Someone
once said that our days are like identical suitcases - all the same size - but
some people can pack more into them than others. Have you ever noticed that we
often times try to pack so much into today, that we force the contents to spill
over into tomorrow? The truth of the matter is, of neither of these days do we
have any guarantee.
All
of this thinking about tomorrow has prompted me to draw three conclusions: As we strive to complete our “todays” and
press towards our “tomorrows” there are, as I see it, at least three challenges
to be faced: (1) The challenge to our faith. (2) The challenge to learn life's
lessons. (3) The challenge to make decisions for the future.
The Challenge To Our Faith.
James'
opening message in his letter is "Consider
it pure joy...whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the
testing of your faith develops perseverance." This says to me that the
believer must pursue “real faith.”
Opposite of much of today's teaching, real faith does not say, "God, you're
going to change this situation so I can know that you are God." What it does say is, "God, regardless of
this situation I am going to maintain my Christian conduct and character,
and continue to uphold your standard; being a living example of one possessing real faith in the real, true and living
God."
Because
the fact is, God may not change your situation. It may be that it is necessary
for you to endure this situation or trial. Why? Because it will make you
better, stronger and a greater witness for the Savior. This is why James says,
the “testing” of your faith. The alternative would be for God to cancel the
test or take the test for you. Hasn’t he already done enough for you by dying
on the cross?
Real
faith stands in spite of any and everything it comes up against. Real faith
will not be satisfied with anything less than what God allows. The believers to
whom James wrote were talking faith but their actions were not exemplifying it.
This is why he writes, "What good is
it...if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds (Works)?" (Js. 2:14).
Deeds should be a natural outworking in the life of the believer.
However,
(and we need to get this next statement right) works are not a means to salvation. Salvation is something that no
amount of works can earn or that wealth can buy. Nevertheless, (and wholly
separate from the issue of salvation) it is hard to get away from the fact that
God has an expectation of us. Frankly, I believe that His expectation is for us
to live in such a way that we are the very epitome of Christian conduct and
character in a world that is becoming increasingly anti-Christian. That’s difficult
to do.
But
have you noticed that nowhere in the bible does it give us an excuse? There’s
not a verse that reads, “Thou shalt live
in a way becoming of a Christian…unless it gets to hard. Whereas, if it does,
get to hard, thou shalt live like a pagan and place your Christian conduct on
hold for a season or until thou casually decide to pick it up again, at your
own convenience.”
Here
is the hot hard truth. Christ has called us to live lives that shine like
beacons of light on the runway of life. I have in mind the lights on the runway
that guides the planes safely from air to ground without casualty or incident.
I think that Christ has called us to do the same. To be bright lights in a
sinfully dark world (Matt. 5), guiding people to safely land in Christ. God
knows that there are plenty of people who have crash landed their lives.
There
are two other opportunities that tomorrows bring. I’ll touch upon these in the
next post. Until then…Shine!
