More Than A Few Puffs

Beloved: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we shall go into such and such a town, spend a year there doing business, and make a profit”– you have no idea what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears.

Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills it, we shall live to do this or that.” But now you are boasting in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin. (James 4:13-17)

James sheds “new” light on the topic of sin: “So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is a sin.”  Ouch!  It’s no wonder we are all sinners.  We all know there are things we should do today and not put off until tomorrow, but we do even if “tomorrow” is distant and we falsely promise or kid ourselves that we will do what is demanded, or commanded, of us.  

We really have no idea – or assurance – what our lives will be like tomorrow.  “There is no time like the present” for us to do what we say we will.  According to John Trusler (1735-1820), a compiler of proverbs: “No time like the present, a thousand unforeseen circumstances may interrupt you at a future time.” Furthermore, Ben Franklin said it most eloquently, "Never leave that till tomorrow which you can do today.”

James said we are all puffs of smoke that appear briefly and then disappear.  So, let’s light a fire under our derrieres and get going.  Where there is fire, there is smoke and far more than a few puffs if we do the will of God today, not tomorrow.

Deacon David Pierce