Illusion of Control – audio

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I have come to believe that we really have no control of the things in this life.

Why do I say that? Let us start by looking at James 4:13-15.

“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.“

Things just get away from us.

Time slips away in the short term.

• We had our Gospel Meeting
• Then I was tired
• Then it rained

Now it has been over two weeks since I mowed the lawn or looked in the garden – where did the time go?

Time slips away in longer periods.

Kim asked me last night if I had heard about someone we knew in college having a heart attack. When did people our age start having heart attacks?

Now we are working on estate planning and I recently attended a seminar on Social Security.  I told Kim she has eight years before she needs to take a look at taking Social Security.

Wow, the plans we had in college are long gone and life has just happened.

Time gets away from all of us, so what should we do?

We need to take care of the important things first.

Let’s look at Matthew 6:31-33 to see what these are.

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Have you taken care of the important things of eternal life?  Or have you let the “eating”, the “drinking” and the “wearing” get in the way?

Decide right now to be right with God.

I emphasize the now.

We could go one by one, our mist evaporating in the sun, as we read in James at the beginning.

We go all at once, without warning.

Jesus was asked a question about his coming again in Matthew 24:3 “…What will be the sign of your coming and the close of the age?”

He answered in Matthew 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.”

Take care of the salvation of your eternal soul.

Remove your sin from between you and God and reconcile with Him.

(See Plan of Salvation)