I have always imagined my death in some spectacular fashion; cut down by an assassin’s bullet while leading some great crusade for justice, or dying from some deadly disease contracted while doing ministry among an impoverished group in Calcutta or the Congo. That’s the way to die! But choking to death on a kernel of popcorn in the middle of a Pink Panther movie while on vacation in Virginia Beach was not what I had ever imagined.

That is when it occurred to me that my life is only a mist, a vapor, a puff of smoke that vanishes away. I had a full schedule of things that I was planning to do, but I was reminded that life is like a puff of smoke. I have established a lifetime of personal and professional accomplishments; but a kernel of popcorn reminded me that my life is like a mist that rises into the air and evaporates. Take all the books I have written, all the degrees I have earned and all the awards I have received and here is the sum total of all of them according to James; my life is like a puff of smoke that is here one minute and gone the next.

This lesson does not apply to me alone; it applies to every person who hears my voice today or who hears or reads or views this sermon at some point in the future. You, too, are subject to the quirks and circumstances of life. And since that is the case, says James, there are some lessons you should learn and some attitudes you and I should adopt from this day forward. James concludes this passage not by saying how fleeting our lives are. Instead, he ends by saying three things:

1. It is by God’s will and not our own that we are able to face each new day

2. It is sinful to think that we can accomplish anything in life without God’s gracious assistance

3. The greatest sin of all is to know the good that we should do during our fleeting lives and not do it because we are putting it off for a later time.

It probably goes without saying, but it is not your alarm clock that wakes you up

each morning. Your alarm clock can ring all day and all night, but if God does not reach down and wake you up with a finger of his love your clock will do you no good. James tells us that it is by God’s will that we go about our daily tasks. It is by God’s will that we earn our daily bread. It is by God’s will that our dreams are fulfilled, our prayers are answered, our fears are overcome and our lives unfold day by day.

I know there is somebody here today that is not ashamed to say “The Lord is blessing me right now -- He woke me up this morning and started me on my way.” It was the Lord who gave you health and strength and food and clothing. It was the Lord that opened doors that no man can open and closed doors that no man can close. Somebody here ought to be able to say, “The Lord is blessing me right now. Life is not ours to control or determine; it is by God’s will that we make our way through life.