“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.”
(James 4:14 NIV)
I’m 27 years old. If you easily get lost in existential contemplation as I do, you may understand my surprise at how “old” I am. College is a nice six years behind me. My “little brother” has started a family of his own and our “baby brothers” are grown-ups. I have found gray hair on my head, and my friends have kids now.
No, I’m not old. I still have plenty of youth left. Yet, youth has also passed in some ways. You may be my same age, younger, or chuckling to yourself because of how young you know I really am. Regardless of your age, regardless of how young or old you feel, the Bible teaches us to think—to believe—that even the youngest of us has less life left than we may suppose. In essence, life is short, and time is passing.
Yes, Life Is Short
James 4:14 grabs our attention with these words, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (NIV). We may like to think that our lives are monuments, carefully constructed one experience at a time, built to last and be remembered. The Bible paints a different picture. We’re mist—here at dawn, gone by the time the sun is risen. We are vapor.
Why Is Life So Short?
Something inside us feels the brevity of life to be wrong. The Bible explains this. It says that God has “planted eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT). If you read the story of the Bible from the beginning to end, you will realize that life is short—and that has not always been so. We are made for eternity, made for long life in the presence of God. God cut life short when the first humans sinned. But God offers us eternal life through his Son, so that though our short lives here on earth may come to a close, that will not the end (John 3:16). Life is short, yes, but eternal life is long, and God has invited us to receive salvation through his Son so that our eternity might be one spent in his loving presence and not under his just condemnation.
Even if we trust in the promise of eternal life, the shortness of this life may leave us uneasy.
The Truth That Life Is Short May Scare Us
I will admit to you that when I consider my age, I do feel a sharp little stab in my spirit, that sometimes gives way to a teeny dose of anxiety. Why? I realize that part of my life has been spent, and I have less than I began with. I know I will die, and I recognize that life has an expiration date.
The world would tell me to stop thinking so morbidly: You’re so young! But God tells me otherwise. He tells me I have no guarantees that I will live another day (James 4:14). He tells me in his Word not to dismiss such thoughts, but to pause over them, because pondering on what makes me uncomfortable may actually make me wiser.
Here’s the heart cry God gave us for when we feel the pain of growing up: “teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12 NIV). We will live more wisely when we realize that our days are numbered.
Will You Embrace the Truth that Life Is Short?
Seeing our lives as mist may help us make the most of the life we have. How might your life change today if you took this word of God to heart—that your days are passing, and life is short?
So, if it ever hits you, friend, as it has hit me, that life is short, don’t shoo away the thought in your discomfort. Instead, accept the truth that stings, and may it lead your soul to cry out to God, “Oh, make me wiser, God, to live this life well.”
As God answers your prayer for wisdom, may you live with more joy, seeing life, however long he grants it to you, as a precious gift from him.