Articles
Life IS!
A brother in Christ, once said, “Life is short, Death is Certain and Fate is Fickle!
When boiling down the facts of our existence, these are three factors that need to continually resonate in our thinking.
The Prophet “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ” (1:1), reminds the reader, saying, “Come now, ye that say, To-day or to-morrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (4:13-14).
The certainty of death is likewise evident as we observe in our own lives, and/or in the lives of those that are seen: some perish young, others (relatively speaking), late, but “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this cometh judgment” (Heb. 9:27). Mankind is assured of an appointment, for which no one will be late.
The fickleness of life is also understood, albeit only applied (in one’s own mind) to someone else, somewhere else, all the while believing that the shadow of the angel of adversity will not pass one’s door. Solomon, on the other hand, said, I “saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them” (Eccl. 9:11-12).
As Jesus spoke, concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, He said, “But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only. And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall be the coming of the Son of man” (Matt. 24:36-39).
No one knows the timing of life. No matter (whether early or late), life is short, death is certain and be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself and sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. James, therefore said, mankind “ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that” (Jam. 4:15).
Therefore, “To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (Jam. 4:17), and continually remember, “There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power over the day of death; and there is no discharge in war: neither shall wickedness deliver him that is given to it” (Eccl. 8:8). ret
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