You Might Not Be Here

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. (James 4:13-14 NIV)

It's difficult to think about it, but you might not be here tomorrow.  Yesterday's services, "You might not finish this service," reminded us that our lives are fleeting and may not last past the hour.  If you knew your life wasn't going to last past the hour, the day, or the week; would it change how you spent that time?

I had a friend who would remind me on a regular basis that, "Life is priority.  Life is perspective."  Would your priorities change if you knew you were not going to live past the hour?  How would they change?  How would you use the time?

Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:15-16 NIV)

Life is a gift.  Our time is intended to be a stewardship, a temporary residence, and an opportunity to bring God's Kingdom here.  When we get "there," nothing else that we do will matter.  The amount of money we make, the things that we buy, and the places we've seen all will disappear.  We can't take any of it with us.  The only thing we leave behind is our legacy.

If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them. (James 4:17 NIV)

What will your legacy look like?  Are you building a legacy that honors God and brings more people to Him?  When it outlasts you, will God smile?  Will you look "down" from heaven and smile, too?