It was a day in October of 2020, and I learned 3 big lessons on LIFE by 11:00 in the morning. I'd like to share these lessons with you over the course of 3 weeks.
Lesson #2 from that morning came 2 hours after the first, at about 7:00 -
My wife and I were in Little Rock so that she could receive a CT scan to keep an eye on a health issue she was dealing with. Instead of going in with her for the scan, I elected to wait for her in the car. It was an ordeal to get in the building with all of the precautions being taken (this was during the coronavirus scamdemic). You had to put on a mask and have your temperature checked, so I elected to just wait outside unless she needed me to come in.
So, I parked the car and sat back in the driver's seat to wait. As people began to arrive, I noticed something that they had in common. Nearly everyone who came had someone with them. Someone who came to help them. We were receiving the scan at CARTI, which stands for Central Arkansas Radiation Therapy Institute. The vast majority of the people who come to this place are here to receive radiation treatments as they battle some type of cancer.
Now, my wife did not have cancer. She simply needed an internal scan, and we shopped around to find the best price on a CT scan. After research, we selected CARTI.
As I sat in my car and watched people stream into the building over the next hour, I saw many adult children assisting their elderly parents, husbands assisting wives, wives assisting husbands, and many other pairs of people walking into that building.
I was certainly reminded of the fragility of life. The reality that, at any moment, our lives could drastically change or even vanish away. We know from reading James 4:14 that life can be fleeting. Jesus' half-brother writes, "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."
Phrases like "you do not know" and "you are a mist" remind us of the lack of control that we actually possess when it comes to life. You see, life is a gift! To expect more than what we have been given is to not appreciate the gift that has been given. To take for granted that more and more days will come is to presume something that we ought not. And to spend our gifted days chasing after whatever "dreams" we may have is a self-absorbed use of our precious gift.
In the verse that follows, James 4:15, he instructs the reader, "Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” What James means is, rather than operating under the assumption that our lives are our own and that we can spend them as we please, we ought to hold on to them loosely and consult our Father in Heaven as to how He would have us to proceed and expend our remaining resources...our, time, money, health, and skills.
Why? Because we do not own our lives. He does. We are His possession. Paul reminds us, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." (I Corinthians 6:19-20) Though God created us, He also purchased us. Remarkable, huh?! He didn't have to, but He chose to buy us at the highest cost. It was His will. It was for our redemption. He expended His resources for our benefit. Now, we owe Him everything we are and possess.
Also, we do it because, as David said in Psalm 31:15, "My times are in your hands." Meaning that God, not us, decides when and where our lives begin and when and where our lives end.
So, this must be our conclusion. May you and I, with complete confidence in and reliance upon Him, gladly say, "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." (Psalm 118:24)
Pastor Jeremy
