5/20/19 

James 4:14

¹⁴ whereas 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.

“What is your life?”

This is a question all should answer.  The evaluation and answer the writer James gives is so apt that we should attend with a desire to apply what he writes.

His answer is “Your life is a vapor”.  We can think of those fluffy clouds that drift in and out of sight with no affect on us.  But I like to think of the first kettle in morning.  As it began to boil the vapor would rise.  It was visible and it certainly had a meaning no matter how limited.  We could see the steam.

The writer has caught our attention with this analogy.  He follows with the reasons why he makes the analogy.  “It appears for a moment.”  There is to any life, whether 100 years or an infant in birth, a brevity that cannot be denied.  I heard this morning of a friend who died and I thought “he was so young.”  But he was 88 years old, a mere watch in the night.

Then James finishes his reason for the analogy, “Then it vanishes.”  I must admit somewhat guiltily I don’t know my great grandparents name on either side, and I know of no one who does. They have vanished.  And you will too.