How, then, shall I spend this
short life? What is your life? You are a
vapour that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.
—James 4.14 What is all this struggle in
the world for? Why so many attempts to be something
and have something in the sphere of nothing? This struggle for
passing vanities is as if the foam and bubbles should contend
for station on the rapid stream, but in a moment they are gone.
We forget that we are but of yesterday, and tomorrow we are
no more. It is a shame to think so much
about these few fleeting days, and so little of endless ages
of eternity. Let us look to the generations
past, how few of our deceased acquaintances are remembered,
And how soon, like them, shall we also be forgotten! How frail is our life! It is
likened to a pile of grass, a withered leaf, dry stubble, a fading flower,
a breath, brittle clay, fading flesh. How swift is our life! It is likened to a weaver's shuttle,
an eagle, a ship, a wind that passes by. How short is our life! It is likened to a moment, a
breath, Surely I need not be so anxious about a life so short,
a state so uncertain, and a world so vain, where I am only a stranger,
a pilgrim, a sojourner, and shortly leaving everything below. Let
the world then go with me as it will. This shall not trouble
me, who am daily going through the world, and shall in a little
while go entirely out of the world. to return no more. How then shall I spend this short
life, my few winged moments which are all appointed to me, surely
in nothing better than in looking out and laying up for eternity? This world is fading away, along
with everything that people crave, but anyone who does what pleases
God will live forever. 1 John 2.17 Those who use the
things of the world should not become attached to them, for
this world as we know it will soon pass away. 1 Corinthians
7.31 Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart
of wisdom. Psalm 90.12 Set your minds on things above,
not on earthly things. Colossians 3.2. So we fix our
eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is
seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4.18.