Life is a Vapor

I am always amazed how quickly things around the pond can change. Depending on the angle of the sun shadows appear one way and within a few minutes the scene is totally different. Tonight as I came home from church, the moon was partially visible behind the clouds, creating a spot of pale luminous brightness in a velvety black sky. I couldn’t wait to get inside so that I could get on the porch to view this beauty over the water. Alas, in the time it took me to unlock the back door, drop my purse on the kitchen counter and get out on the back porch the view was gone. The moon had slid completely behind the cloud cover and was practically invisible.

Our lives can change just as quickly. Surely, we all can think of people whose lives were changed in an instant either by the death of a friend or family member, illness, loss of a job or any number of similar traumatic turns. The Bible tells us this too. Look at James 4:14, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

Does that sound frightening? We are not promised tomorrow, our lives are but vapours, mists on the annals of time. But there is no need for fear my friends, for if you are in Christ you have a hope – a hope of life eternal. Romans 15:13 affirms this promise, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” Hallelujah!

Do you know the hope that is Jesus Christ or are you wondering how to obtain this hope today? It is by grace through faith as we read in Romans 3:23-24, “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” Redemption means to deliver by paying a price, and Jesus paid our debt through His death on the cross. All we have to do is believe on Him as we read in Romans 10:8-9, 13.

In closing, meditate on this last verse from the poem, Only One Life, Twill Soon be Past, by C. T. Studd:

Give me Father, a purpose deep, In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep; Faithful and true what e’er the strife, Pleasing Thee in my daily life; Only one life, ’twill soon be past, Only what’s done for Christ will last.

(excerpt from The Pond 2016)