What Is Your Life?

—James 4:14

These four simple words ask a very profound question: “What is your life?” While mystery shrouds what took place before the cradle and what will take place after the grave, the biggest mystery of all is life itself—the time between the cradle and the grave when we are encased in human flesh. How did we get here? Why are we here? What are we to be doing here? Where are we headed? Is this all there is? The question of our chapter—“What is your life?”—prompts many such questions.

Today’s culture puts enormous pressure on us to focus most of our attention on the here and now. For too many of us, biblical views of life and death are overshadowed, if not totally forgotten. We too easily live as though this life is all there is and all that matters. We seek to camouflage the aging process so as to pretend we are avoiding it. We cram any thoughts of death or the afterlife into the far recesses of our minds. We live as if we have a ninety-nine-year lease on our bodies with an option to renew. And all of this is ironic in light of the fact that the greatest certainty life holds for us is our upcoming appointment with death. That reality makes “What is your life?” an important question for everyone to answer.

LIFE HAS ITS UNCERTAINTIES

What is your life? Secular scientists and philosophers cannot satisfactorily answer this question. Christians, on the other hand, understand that death is not an end but a means to an end: when believers die, they don’t leave home; they go home.

This perspective is invaluable as we face the mystery of life and its uncertainties. We celebrate our birthday and number our years, but the psalmist says to number our days: “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

The question James not only asked but also answered in the same verse may help us number our days. Consider this description of life: “It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). A vapor is here one moment and gone the next. Like steam coming out of a tea kettle on the stove, our life on this planet appears for a short while and then vanishes. This calls to mind the famous line in Shakespeare’s Macbeth: “Out, out, brief candle! Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hours upon the stage, and then is heard no more.” Life is brief and filled with uncertainties: we can’t know what will happen next in our life or in the lives of those we love.

LIFE HAS ITS CERTAINTIES

Life is only a vapor that quickly fades. We may frantically look to miracle drugs to add a few more months to life. Some even rush to cryonics and seek to freeze their bodies after death in hopes that future medical science will find ways to cure their disease and bring them back to life. Still, life’s greatest certainty is our appointment with death. The Bible says, “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).

Peter Marshall, former pastor and chaplain of the United States Senate (1902–1949) once told an Arabic fable that illustrates this certainty. A merchant in Baghdad sent his servant to the market. When he returned, the servant was pale and trembling. Clearly upset, he said to his master, “Down in the marketplace I was jostled by a woman in the crowd. When I turned around, I saw that it was Death that jostled me. She looked at me and made a threatening gesture. Please, lend me a horse that I may hasten to Samarra and hide there so Death will not find me.”

The merchant gave him a horse, and the servant galloped away in haste. Later the merchant went to the marketplace and saw Death standing in the crowd. He went over to her and asked, “Why did you frighten my servant this morning? Why did you make a threatening gesture?”

Death replied, “That was not a threatening gesture. I was only startled and surprised to see him in Baghdad, for I have an appointment with him tonight in Samarra!”*

Each of us has our own appointment in Samarra, but if we have put our faith and trust in Christ, this appointment should not cause fear but rejoicing. Our hope in Christ enables us to sing, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.” We are never really ready to live until we are ready to die. When we acknowledge that Jesus died on the cross as payment for our sins, we can look forward to eternity with Him, an eternity where “there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain” (Revelation 21:4). Trusting Him and knowing Him in the free pardoning of sin takes away the fear of death, and the absence of that fear enables us to live life to the fullest with great joy and hope and peace.

Life is only a vapor. In the context of eternity, we are on this small planet in this vast universe for a short period of time. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter who we know, how high we may have climbed a social or business ladder, or how many goods we have accumulated. All that matters in this life and in the next is our response to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Q & A: “What is your life?” One day someone will look at your tombstone and note the year of your birth or the year of your death. But what matters most will be hidden in the dash between those years, specifically, what your response to Jesus was when you walked this earth. After all, the quality of one’s life is never determined by the number of years. Some live a life long in years but not especially rich. Others live a full, rich, and significant life in only a few years. Make sure the years represented by your dash are characterized by your preparation for the next life, by your focus on your relationship with Jesus. After all, as James wrote, “What is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). Trust in Christ so that when your appointed time comes, you have the rock-solid assurance that, rather than leaving home, you are actually going home.

What Is Your Life?

From the book