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Life is
buta Vapor
Missey Butler
"Fear God and keep His commandments" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
CBN.com -- At a very early age, I was blessed to discover the wonderful writings of King Solomon, the humble ruler who unselfishly asked God for wisdom, instead of the typical list of wants compiled by most kings.
I am not sure if he won my affection by his great insight
with the teaching of the two disputing mothers and the baby, or when after he
experienced all the pleasures life had to offer, he then had the conviction to
tell the world, “None of it matters.”
God must have had something up His sleeve,
because as a youngster, He made sure many nuggets of truth were planted deep
within my very impressionable heart.
It produced a kind of “Princess and the
Pea” fairy tale effect. It caused me not be able to rest too comfortably on
the “mattress of complacency.”
The Holy Spirit always made sure that soft
whispers of wisdom would consistently move in and out of my life for many
years.
I recall one particular verse that I could
never seem to forget. It was one of those sayings that you weighed everything
against.
It’s found in the book of
Ecclesiastes.
It says, "It is better to spend more time
at funerals than at festivals. For you are going to die and you should think
about it while there is still time" (Ecclesiastes
7:2).
You must be thinking as I did, Goodness
gracious, what a depressing statement!
A real bubble buster! Actually, for me it
was quite the contrary.
That rather gloomy
statement would cause me to continually reprioritize my life.
The Holy Spirit made sure that particular
Scripture was stored in a “refer to often” file within my mind.
He was faithful to lead me to that mental
index whenever I developed the self-centered notion that somehow my life was my
own and I could live it anyway I pleased.
As James often reminds us, "For what is your life? It is even
a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanishes away" (James 4:14).
This verse is certainly not one of those “claim
it” verses we so readily display on our fridges with a cute little
magnet.
But then again, why don’t we?
Are we so in love with our lives or so
deeply immersed in our pleasures that we cannot bare to be reminded that one
day it will all disappear like a passing mist?
On the front of my computer at work, I keep
a small, neon colored “post it” with the following words displayed
directly at eye level: “Soon this life as we know it shall pass … only
what’s done for Jesus will last.”
So what is our duty? The wisest king that
ever lived summed it up in one sentence.
"Fear God and
keep His commandments" (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
So, in closing, I leave you with a K.I.S.S.
– “Keep It Simple Saints.”
And always remember, “It’s only a
minute, but eternity’s in it.”
Make your vapor count!
Can God change your life?
God has made it possible for you to know Him and experience
an amazing change in your own life.
Discover how you can find peace with
God. You can also send us your prayer requests.
Missey Butler
Missey Butler is a freelance writer and contributor to CBN.com.
https://www1.cbn.com/devotions/life-is-but-a-vapor
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