This Life is a Vapor

This life it fleeting, and in the blink of an eye it shall be gone. We are daily on the brink of eternity, and since we are so, then why are we daily wasting our lives that shall soon be gone? The apostle James wrote, “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” [James 4:14], and the same idea David penned in the psalm saying, “surely every man at his best is a mere breath” [Psalm 39:5]. Our lives are so short, so fragile, and so finite that they are compared to a mere mist and breath in time. As C. T. Studd once said, “Only one life twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Eternity shall be here in the blink of an eye and the worthless vanities of this life shall be all burned, and since it is so then why are we wasting our preciously scarce time? There are over two billion people on this planet who have never heard the gospel and it seems all we want to do is watch television. Why not sell the television and send the money to a tribal missionary who can barely support himself on the field? Why not turn off the computer and get on your knees and pray that the Lord spend you for His glory and send you to the nations? Why not just do what Jesus commanded you to do and go into the world and preach the gospel?

You have unsaved friends that you hang out with and yet you never bother to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. Why? You have family that is the same, and why do you never take the time to sit down with them, open up and Bible, and show them the way of salvation? It’s just uncomfortable, right? Do you think it was comfortable for the Peter to stand in the midst of the Jewish temple and flat out tell the Jewish people that they crucified the Messiah? Do you think it was comfortable for Stephen to be stoned by his kinsmen for preaching the gospel? Do you think it was easy for Paul to spend his entire life going into towns to preach the gospel knowing that they would arrest, beat, falsely accuse, and eventually behead him?

Why, brother and sister in Christ, why are we so? Why do we desire so much to hang onto this life? The apostle Paul wrote this saying, “I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ” [Philippians 3:8]. Do you count all things as rubbish compared to Christ? If not so, then why not? For as Paul wrote again saying, “the form of this world is passing away” [1 Corinthians 7:31].This life is fleeting and shall soon be gone, and when you drop dead and head onto glory the only thing that matters is did you spend it all for His glory.

One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Philippians 1:21, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Paul could have not put it more simply, for life is Christ and death is gain. Oh how good this life is as we daily “labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God” [1 Timothy 4:10]. Brethren, fix your hope on Him and you shall find unceasing joy and all fulfillment in this life. Fix your hope on Him, spend your life for Him, and live and die for Him. For “in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” [1 Corinthians 15:52]. That day is coming quickly, and since it is so “let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” [Hebrews 12:1-2]. May we run and run quickly. Grace be with you all.