Melting Away of Time

Bible Reading: James 4

Key Verse: Verse 14 – “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

Key Words: It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time

Jesus describes for us the brevity of life in James 4:14. He compares life to a vapor.  Have you ever had vapor on your mirror?  It is there for only a short time period, then it is gone…. So it is with life.

Robert Hastings describes how rapidly life passes when he writes.

When I was a boy, we hung a four-cornered card in the window each morning during the summer.  The numbers 25, 50, 75, and 100 were printed in the corners.

It was our way of telling the iceman how many pounds to bring.  If mother had waxed the kitchen floor, she would spread newspapers to catch the dripping water, for ice melts in transit.  You never have as much when you get there as when you start.

Time, too, melts in transit. It gets away from us.  You never have as much left when you get where you are going as when you left.  Some people boast about ‘saving’ time. Hogwash!  Ask anyone to show you the time he ‘saved.’  You can save money, but you can’t save time.  It slips away. Oh, you can find quicker ways of doing things.  You can cut corners, timewise. But you can’t hold time back. You can’t put it in a deep freeze, or lock it in a vault, or reverse the pages of the calendar.

James 4:14 reminds us that our life is ‘even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.’ And Psalm 90:6 compares man to the grass which in the morning flourishes, but in the evening is cut down and withered.

And then the insights of Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, ‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance.’

Yes, time, like ice, melts in transit.  It’s your life!  Use it or misuse it, but you can’t hold on to it… which is what some mean when they say it is better to wear out than to rust out!

 

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Wear out; it is better than rusting out.