Forgetting God
You do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
- James 4:14
There was a time in my life when I could remember every week and month and year. Now I remember decades more easily than I remember individual years. Time seems to go by so quickly.
When Billy Graham was asked what had been his greatest surprise in life, he answered, "The brevity of it."
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That is so true. Time marches on. Scripture certainly echoes this idea of the shortness of human life. Job said, "Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good" (Job 9:25). David said, "Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but vapor" (Psalm 39:5).
And James posed this question: "For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away" (James 4:14). James wasn't asking a philosophical question but a more descriptive one. A better way to translate it would be, "What sort of life do you have?"
It is also important to note that he was speaking to Christians who were involved in the world of commerce, those who seemed to be taking credit where credit was not due. They were boasting of their ability to make money and be successful, and in the process, they were forgetting all about God.
It is always dangerous for us to take credit for what God has given us the ability to do. God warns that He will not share His glory with another. So let's be careful to not forget God in our lives.
