You are a Mist

I was seated outside at a restaurant this past weekend and couldn’t help but notice the person sitting in  my line of vision, a young man who was studiously vaping while his dinner partner texted on her cell phone.  I watched the wisp of vapor he blew into the air, the mist lingering for only a second before it vanished without a trace.  It was this image of the man vaping that came to mind when I read this verse in James:

James 4:14

yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

 In saying that “man is a mist,” James uses a metaphor, a figure of comparison. The figure underscores just how brief man’s life really is. Just as the mist from the e-cigarette disappeared in seconds, so too will man’s life appear for a short time and then vanish.

In order to appreciate what’s really being said here, let’s read the verse in the context.

                James 4:13-17

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"—

yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

In essence, James is saying, “C’mon now. You make plans for tomorrow and next year thinking you have it all figured out, but you don’t even know what’s going to happen tomorrow. In fact, you don’t even know if there will be a tomorrow. Quit bragging like you know what’s coming down the pike, for your life is like a vapor of smoke that lingers for a few seconds and then vanishes.”  The truth is, we know nothing and are nothing, apart from God. And it is by His mercy that we are even alive.  Better to say, ‘if the Lord wills,’ and then we can make our plans. 

 This misty metaphor reminds us that man’s life is BRIEF, about as long-lasting as the mist from a vape. How wise it would be, then, to invest in eternity.

 Colossians 3: 2-4

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Earthly life is a mist. Our life in Christ is eternal.