by Zach Roll

The Brevity of our Time.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link

“Yet 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.”
James 4:14 English Standard Version

Photo credit goes to my mother in law, Cheryl, as well as the idea for this devotion.

On some days we want to be lazy. We want to take a break from all the rush, just sit back and enjoy. Other days, maybe even weeks or months, we can’t stop.  We go at our work nonstop and can’t take a break. God has given us time for rest, and time for work. We often have these big plans for our futures. We even make smaller plans for tomorrow, or for the weekend. What does James tell us in the verse above? How do we even know that tomorrow will come? Yet, we are worried about it.

How are we to spend the brief earthly life, that we have been granted by God, before being called into eternity in heaven with Him?

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4 English Standard Version

I love the simplicity of this verse. We are to live this life delighting ourselves in the Lord. We find true rest, joy, comfort, and hope only in God. We may search for these things elsewhere, but anywhere we look it will either be a false rendering of these things, or at best it will be imperfect. Delight yourselves in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. One thing this verse does not mean is that if we are being “good Christians” that God will give us all the cool things we want. The true desire of our hearts is to know God. God has made Himself known to us in Scripture, in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Spirit…that we may know Him and have a relationship with Him.

True and complete satisfaction is found only when we delight ourselves in the Lord. Whether we are resting, or hard at work, let us spend our brief life delighting in the Lord. Amen.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, CO