You are a mist (James 4:14)

The Book of James includes this admonition:


13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

-James 4:13-15

James is not arguing against planning or even making profits. The Bible, in fact speaks of both of these activities in positive terms, so long as they are done honestly (Proverbs 6:6-8 comes to mind).

Instead, James is warning about a specific danger: planning as though God is not part of the equation.

James even gives us some practical reasons to avoid a presumptuous attitude about life in verse 14.

First, we see that life is unpredictable (“you do not know what tomorrow will bring”). We can and should do our best to plan wisely–God is not honored by a life that is lived irresponsibly or haphazardly.

But consider this: Some of the most significant events in your life will be things you never planned. 

The year 2012 was a prime example of this for me. I had moved from Manila to Angeles City with the sole intention of helping my friend plant a church. But God had even more in store for me. I ended up meeting my wife the day after I moved. We were married within weeks. One of the greatest earthly blessings a man can experience is that of finding a godly wife. This blessing came to me at a time and in a way I never would have expected.

But 2012 would end in heartbreak. I vividly remember receiving a text from the United States informing me that my mom would soon step into eternity. She was a Christian, so she was prepared. But I was devastated--her death meant she would never meet my wife in person. These verses in Job took on a new meaning:

20Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

-Job 1:20-21

You may have been through a season in life that is even more extreme than what I’ve shared. But one way or another, we all learn that life surprises us with both joy and pain. As I’ve argued before, God has a way of wrecking our plans.

We are also warned that life is fleeting. James describes it as a “mist” (vs. 14).

Here’s the irony: I don’t think one appreciates how quickly life goes by until it’s about halfway over. It takes at least a few decades to even begin to grasp it. It seems like we reach the end before we even begin to understand God’s goodness and wisdom.

Here’s a quote that has always resonated with me:


“Life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. Just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down.”

-AW Tozer

The “mist” analogy of verse 14 also warns us that life is temporary.

Put another way, life is a temporary assignment heading towards an eternal destination.

Every man, woman, boy and girl has an immortal soul. This temporal earthly life, biblically speaking, is preparation for eternity. The ending of biological life is only the beginning of something even more significant. Those who have trusted Christ will enjoy His presence for eternity. Those who have rejected Him will spend eternity regretting it.

We live in a reality of eternal consequence. It’s only fitting that we live with an eternal perspective.

Life is unpredictable. Life is fleeting. Life is temporary.

How should we live in light of these realities? The answer is in verse 15: “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

The wisest path in life is to live in submission to the will of God. We submit to the One who knows and holds the future. We submit to the One who will maximize these few, fleeting years for His eternal purposes.

The first step in living this kind of life is to believe the gospel and trust Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Once you’ve trusted Christ, obey Him! This is the essence of submission–obedience. I can’t think of a single time that I have regretted obeying God and doing His will. Disobedience, on the other hand, has only left me with regrets–regrets for wasted time that was never mine to begin with.

Choose wisely. Live wisely.

Father, I thank you for your promise to give wisdom to those who genuinely seek it (James 1:5). I know that Your plan for me is one that will bring glory to You and joy to me. I pray that I will live wisely and obediently with an eternal perspective.

This book is included in my book entitled Knowing God’s Will: Discovering His Plan for Your Life.

Philippines: Knowing God’s Will is Available!

To all my friends in the Philippines: Knowing God’s Will is now available there locally! Same book, different cover.

I’m deeply thankful to CSM Publishing! You can order it directly from their website or wherever CSM publications are sold.

The whole idea for Knowing God’s Will was born in the Philippines. Here’s a quote from the introduction:

I preached and wrote on the topic of discerning God’s will about twenty years ago when I was a missionary in the Philippines. The series and blog posts were well-received at the time, and I hope I helped my young audience in their pursuit of God’s will. I’ve now had more time to think about this topic and to learn more life lessons.

The book also includes quite a few stories from my time as a missionary. It’s only fitting that it gets published in country that has meant so much to me! I pray that many Filipinos will be blessed and be part of the glorious adventure of following Christ.

One more note to my friends in the Philippines: I would greatly appreciate you sharing this post on your social media pages. I’m also more than happy to do radio/podcast interviews as my time permits.


When Life Crashes In

Kaleb Whitby was driving his Chevy Silverado on Interstate 84 in Oregon. One semi-truck jackknifed in front of him due to black ice and he was unable to keep from colliding into its side. Another tractor trailer came barreling straight towards them, also unable to stop. Whitby held onto the steering wheel, closed his eyes, and prayed for safety.

A few moments later he found himself encased in a mangled mass of metal that was once his truck. Sergi Karplyuk, one of the semi drivers, jumped out of his truck to check on Whitby’s well-being. Only Whitby’s head was visible, but he was completely coherent and able to communicate. Whitby, in fact, gave Karplyuk permission to take this shocking photograph which appeared on multiple news outlets:

Kaleb Whitby was freed from his truck and walked away with just a few scratches. The wreck was part of a 26-car pileup.

This story reminds me of a word I’ve encountered frequently in the New Testament: thlipsis (in the original Greek). I most recently ran across it in 2 Corinthians 6:4. Paul wrote of the multiple hardships he gladly endured for the sake of the gospel (2 Corinthians 6:4-5).

Thlipsis is often translated as “affliction,” “tribulation,” or “trouble.” The word is used to describe anything that causes us to suffer (physically, spiritually, or emotionally). But the word also meant to be pressured or constricted.

Any afflictions I have experienced would be considered “afflictions-lite” by Paul’s standards. But suffering has a way of making us lose our perspective—we can feel like we are having the life squeezed out of us.

God never promises a life without suffering, but He does promise something better: divine purpose in suffering. Consider this promise in Romans:

3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

-Romans 5:3-5

There’s that word again, thlipsis, appearing twice and translated as “sufferings/suffering.” God promises that suffering/affliction is His holy process of producing qualities that can be formed no other way (endurance, character, and hope). I must remind myself of this when life isn’t going the way I think it should. I pray you will, too.