by
Os Hillman for Marketplace Leaders
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"You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14b).
A group of businesspeople meet at my office every week for fellowship, study, and prayer. One man attended our group for several years. Jim was well liked and in good health. One Thursday he showed up as usual. The next morning I received a call, "Jim is dead! He died in his easy chair last night!" Jim had no prior problems and there was no indication he was about to go be with the Lord. Naturally, it came as a shock to us all.
Whenever things like this happen close to home, it brings us face to face with our mortality. A friend of mine said he was challenged by someone to do an experiment. He challenged him to live his life for one year as if it were the last year he would live. He responded to the challenge and did as proposed. It changed his life forever. He began to focus on different priorities and people when he viewed life in these terms.
James gives us a perspective on viewing tomorrow.
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:13-15). Life is fragile. Consider where you are investing your time and energies. Someone once said he had never heard anyone on his deathbed say that he wished he had made more money in his lifetime or he wished he had made a certain deal. Usually it is something like, "I wish I had spent more time with my kids."Ask the Lord to give you His priorities for your life.
(c) Marketplace Leaders
Os Hillman is president of Marketplace Leaders, an organization whose purpose is to raise up and train men and women to apply Biblical faith in the workplace. His email address is os@marketplaceleaders.org.
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