Today I will attend the funeral for the mother of one of my elders. This brother in Christ is a dear friend, and we work together in mission activities. Jan and I have driven eight hours to be here. We will make the same journey in reverse today as we return home. Why? What is life about?
James writes that our lives are only as a brief vapor that appears and then vanishes (4:14-16). I wonder what James had in mind. What had he seen that he was referring to? What might we think of? Do you think of the steam rising from a boiling kettle? The early morning mist that lingers over a pond in summer, or the morning mist on the valleys of the Appalachians in West Virginia? Do you think of a cloud that will soon be gone?
James reminds that the substance of life is not in the external but in the internal, not in the visible but in the invisible. After the water vapor from the boiling kettle enters the air and cools, it still exists, but it is no longer visible. This describes our lives–the vapor makes us visible. Genesis 2 calls us dust. A layer of dust on a curio table may be visible; dust in the air is visible only in the particles that dance in a ray of sun shining into the room.
May we so live life that when the visible part of life is gone, the invisible remains and continues. The invisible continues in our influences, the love we share, the examples we give, and the sacrifices we make. Even after our time on earth is gone, our lives remain through those we have touched.
Our lives also continue because we are not only earthly beings but image of God creation. We are made to exist in this biological sphere, but we continue to exist as spiritual beings when earthly life ends.
Thus the question of our title may be answered in two realms. Physical life can be filled with physical things–pleasures, things, experiences, possessions, much as Solomon describes in Ecclesiastes 1-2. But this definition of life comes up short. It makes life seem good, but it is temporal and fleeting.
The question is better answered in the unseen realm of spiritual realities, lasting relationships, life spent in things that are bigger than we are and things that will last longer than this world. I want to answer the question by pointing to a life spent to help people be better, help people find Jesus, meet the basic needs of people, build relationships, exhibit the spirit and attitude of Jesus. I want to answer the question by living out commitments, sacrifices, love, friendship, and brotherhood through Jesus’ presence and power in my life in the Spirit.