James 4:13-15 “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. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” Today's episode talks about how we never know if we will have tomorrow. It also talks about how we tend to waste time. Time is running out whether we realize it or not. It also asks the question, "What if we could be the light that no one can ignore?" Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
What Are We Waiting For?
James 4:13-15 “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. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
This verse is so good because it reminds us that none of us know how much time we have. We wake up each day and take it for granted that we woke up. Most of us do not wake up grateful for a new day. If we are being honest, we probably wake up annoyed that our alarm is going off and wonder how it could possibly be time to get up already when we just laid our heads down a minute ago. I think the part of the verse that says, “You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes,” demonstrates how brief our life actually is. We may seem like we are here on earth forever, yet it goes by in the blink of an eye.
It sounds like the beginning of this verse is telling us we shouldn’t make plans because we don’t know if we will be around to carry out those plans. I don’t think that is what the verse is telling us. I think this verse is trying to get us to remember that tomorrow is not guaranteed. None of us know the day we will pass on. None of us know if we will wake up tomorrow. I think we need to continue to make plans and yet when we are making them we remember what the verse says, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
We have dear friends that we have not seen in a long time and yet think of often. We met this family when we were stationed in New Jersey. Tony worked with the husband, and since our family was 4 hours away, they adopted us into their family. Their daughter babysat our boys and we got together for dinner. Dave & Susan have this saying that I think is exactly what this verse is talking about. When you check in with them to confirm your plans, such as “Are we going to dinner tomorrow night?” They always say, “If The good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.” This might sound like a cute saying, yet it reminds us that we can and should make plans and yet we can only carry out those plans if the Lord wills them and if He grants us the gift of another day.
This afternoon I heard this song that I haven’t heard in a while. The chorus of this song always gets me. The song's name is What Are We Waiting For by King and Country. The lyrics that always get me are: So what are we waiting for? What are we waiting for? Why are we wasting all the time like someone's making more? What are we praying for? What are we saving for? What if we could be the light that no one could ignore? What are we waiting for?
I have two favorite lines in that chorus. The first one is, “Why are we wasting all the time like someone’s making more?” Does that hit you, too, or is it just me? I find myself wasting so much time throughout the day. While I was supposed to write this in the last hour, I got sidetracked with at least three different things. Sometimes, it is things that need to be done. Other times, it is checking my email, my Facebook, and my messages on my phone. Other times, it is watching TV or playing a game on my phone. Time goes by each and every day, whether we realize it or not, whether we are paying attention to it or not. Sometimes, we get so tired of doing things that we wish we could just be done and finished with. However, we don’t realize how important that thing may be.
Recently, I have been saying that I want my kids to get their licenses because they are 18 & 19, and I spend a lot of time driving them in the car. Also, Sam does not get out until 9:30, and I would love to be in bed before 10. This week, the Holy Spirit put on my heart that if I am not driving them to work, I may not have much time to talk with them. Noah got his license a few weeks ago, and since he has started driving himself to work, I don’t see him nearly as much. We definitely don’t have that 30 minutes of time to be with each other and talk. When I drove him to work, we didn’t always talk, but we did tend to talk about music or a few other things. Now, I see him briefly before school and when I go in to say goodnight. However, if I am going to be earlier, I will probably be in bed when they get home from work, so I may not even get to hug them goodnight each night anymore. Do you see what I mean about wishing time away?
The other line in the chorus that I love is when it says, “What if we could be the light that no one could ignore?” How great would it be if we could be the light that no one could ignore. What if we loved Christ so much, and we were so full of Him, that His light radiated out of us so brightly that those around us couldn’t ignore it? When I ask the Lord, how we do this, He tells me with love. We need to love others the way He loves others. I heard at Bible study this week that this couple was visiting with some movie star down in Florida. This man said that he met Mother Theresa when he was in Jail. He said he only spent a few moments with her and she didn’t say very much and yet he was inspired to change his whole life because of her kindness. There was a British Journalist who was an atheist and yet he was chosen to interview Mother Theresa. Just being around her and her kindness was enough to turn this atheist into a believer and eventually he became a member of the Catholic Church.
What if we could be the light that no one could ignore? What if that was us? What if just spending time with us, just being around us was enough to help people see the love of Christ? Wouldn’t that be amazing? It all starts with love. It starts by loving others for who they are, not loving people when they are perfect, loving them right where they are, loving them flaws and all. We can’t do this on our own and yet we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Ask the Lord for grace to be His light in the world. He has said, “ask and you will receive.” What will you ask for today?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we know each day is a gift from you, we just forget it often. Please help us appreciate that gift more. Lord, help us be better stewards of you time. Help us not to waste time on things that don’t matter. Help us appreciate the time we have with our spouse and our children. Help us to understand we will miss that time when we don’t have it anymore. Lord, help us to be that light that no one can ignore. Fill us up so much with your light that it just spills out of us onto all those we meet. We love you Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on that journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I have a link on my website where you can register for my coaching program now, even though we won’t start the coaching until the New Year. You will input your name and email and then when the New Year rolls around I will send a payment link. I will start the FaceBook group now for those who are registered so we can get to know each other and be there for each other through the holiday season. The Facebook group will be there for those who sign up for group coaching. I will continue to provide more information as we go. If you have any questions please reach out on social media or email me catherine@findingtruenorthcoaching.com I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you, and so do I. Have a blessed day!