Life’s Too Short Not To Surrender

Ian was only 26 when he had his death experience. At the time, he was looking forward to great surf and his brother’s wedding. So often we think if we have plans for the future, that our future is guaranteed. But it isn’t. Some of us will die before those plans come to pass. Even if we live to 70 or 80 years, life is still very short. It’s over before we know it. This fact may seem gloomy, but it’s important we think about it, because it changes how we live the few days that we have.

Read James 4:13-17.

In the first century, the Roman Empire built roads throughout the world making travel easy. People could travel freely and work wherever (v13). A sense of freedom was in the air. People felt they could do what they wanted, when they wanted, with whom they wanted. For the first time, many people felt they were the masters of their own destinies. But this was a deceptive feeling! In reality God was the master of their destinies. Instead of always trying to control our lives, we should learn to surrender them.

These verses do not condemn travel, nor making money or planning for the future. Rather they address the arrogance with which we tend to do these things (v16). The opposite of pride is humble surrender (v15) which is best for a few reasons: We don’t know what the future holds (v14), but thankfully we can know the One who holds the future.

Our lives are as fleeting and fragile as a mist (v14). Here today, gone to- morrow. This should increase our readiness to surrender our lives to Christ. God rules over our lives, over our circumstances, over the timing of our death, and over what he wants us to do with our lives (v15). Finally, to fail to say yes to Christ and his will is to say yes to sin (v17). In light of life’s brevity, the choice is clear enough: arrogance or surrender.

If you knew you only had 6 months to live, how would you live differently? Why not take this gap to surrender your life to God anew.