[AI translation] The world's long-standing accusation against people of faith is that they are not realistic enough in their lives. They build citadels, they look to the future, they are preoccupied with the uncertain and invisible eternity, they do not have both feet on the ground, they are not sensitive enough to the practicalities and problems of life. Unfortunately, this is a fair accusation to make against people who profess to be Christians. This misconduct on the part of Christians has contributed greatly to the alienation of large numbers of people. Yet only a Christian who is not a true Christian becomes a dreamer. To walk by faith, to live in communion with God, is the most realistic way of life in the world. This is what this next part of James' letter reveals. James is writing about who is a dreamer and who is a realistic person? What is dreaming and what is reality? Let us see.He begins, "...you who say: Today or tomorrow we will go to that city, and there we will spend a year, and we will be merry and we will gain" (James 4:13). On the contrary, he is referring to real people who live in the hustle and bustle of everyday life, who are obviously merchants. People who sailed their boats around the ports, worked hard, worked hard all day, prepared their schedules, calculated their costs, calculated the profits they could make from their business - in other words, they were very much involved in real life. So we are talking about people on the move, on the move, in a hurry, setting themselves goals and doing their best to achieve them. We know this type of person who lives energetically and actively in the struggles of everyday life. It is not only merchants who can be like this, but also people in all kinds of other professions: factory workers, doctors, teachers, housewives, nurses, students - anyone. So we are talking here about people who are active and engaged in the affairs of everyday life. And yet James addresses these people as if they were sleepwalkers. He cries out to them, "Come now, you who say." This "well" in the original text sounds as if someone is trying to stimulate an idle, lazy person to do something, or as if he is trying to wake up a dreamer to reality! So it is as if James were saying: 'People, it is all very well what you are doing, but in the midst of all the problems, tasks and problems you are passing by the main question of life!' - But what is the main question of our life that we pass by again and again, and especially when we think we are very active, useful and caring in life? What kind of dream is this that we should wake up from it?
James continues. Surely it is a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away. (James 4:14) These are terribly sobering words! It means that we live our lives as if we could have them! We live as if it were in our hands, as if we had no Lord in heaven who can dispose of us according to His will. And anyway: what is our life? Only vapour, that is, that thing which, when water boils, escapes from the pot like steam, vibrates in the air for a few moments, exists, has some form, some shape, then suddenly disappears, evaporates, dissipates, as if it had never been, leaving no trace, hardly a memory. Well: this is our life, says James. Something so uncertain, so transparent, so intangible, like steam escaping from a pot. And is this the life we want to hold in our hands and count on as a solid foundation? For we do not even know if we will live tomorrow?
So James says: "... you who say: Today or tomorrow we will go to that city and spend a year there, and we will bargain and gain" (James 4:13) - you are not realistic enough, because you have not calculated the most important factor in the course of your lives: God! You are not wise enough, calculating enough, realistic enough, because you have left out the supreme reality, the supreme reality: the living God from your calculations! Do you think that you only have anything to do with God when you pray in the congregation meeting? But when you are trading, going here or there, profiteering, starting a new school year, so you are in the profane areas of life: are you your own master there? This is the dreaming from which the word of the Word wants to awaken you! But it is God who gives or does not give the strength and success to all my efforts and all my work, and who alone will remain for me when death forces me to part with the results or the ineffectiveness of all my efforts! "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?"(Mk 8,36) And then the whole world as gain will also fall away, then all that seemed so very real will pass away like a dream! It turns out that he built on sand, but he dreamed of rock.
So the question is not whether one is standing with both feet in the current of life - this is not a question, it is natural, it is a necessary requirement - but on what basis is one standing in the current of life? Do you know what is the realistic basis of our life? Salvation! It is the gracious act of God, by which He has resolved the two greatest issues of our lives, the insoluble problem of sin and death, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The redemptive work of Christ is therefore the basis. On this foundation I know, by faith, that all the consequences of my sins have been borne for me by Jesus in love through his death on Calvary. Through the all-absorbing darkness of death, Jesus has made a way for me into eternity by His resurrection. I know that God's grace lives here on earth and in eternity. I am surrounded by God's forgiving love for sin, working eternal life, working my eternal life in all my circumstances. From Him, through Him, and to Him I am and have all that I have. My talents, my family, my work, my health or sickness, my success or failure, my church and my people. Standing on the basis of salvation, my life is but a vapour, but I also know that this apparent vapour is in the hands of the supreme Reality, and therefore I am responsible to Him in every aspect of my life, that is, in my physical and spiritual reality. With the whole totality of my existence I am bound to God, I am dependent on God!
It is not that I now renounce all practical realities of life, commerce, going hither and thither, earnest participation in real life - no! It is precisely that I am free from the convulsive effort with which I have tried to secure for myself the existence of my humble life - for it is in good hands! So, it is not only a pious word, but a personal, realistic communion of life with God that is expressed in this Word: "If the Lord wills and we live, behold, we will do this or that." (Jas 4,15) So what the Lord wills and as long as He wills, we do not want to meditate on, but then we want to do it very seriously! In the real life, in the everyday things of life, we serve where we are, counting on God, asking Him for guidance and strength, offering ourselves to Him and being accountable to Him!
Well: is this how we live? Do we believe, do we demand that all of our lives, every aspect of our lives, should be lived in redemptive communion with God? And precisely because we know that our life here on earth is but a vapour, short, uncertain whether it will last tomorrow: are we in a hurry to fulfil what God wants to accomplish today from us and through us in this world? For this life of ours is not only a gift, but also a great opportunity, not for gain, not to secure our own life, but to do good works. That is why James immediately goes on to say, "Whosoever therefore shall be able to do good, and shall not do it, it is his sin." (Jas 4,17) Here then becomes quite visible, real, the spiritual relationship of a man with the invisible world. The communion of life with God necessarily becomes a service of good among men. God says to man living in the grace of salvation: give me the thousand cares of your life, and you will have nothing left but to listen to me, and that through you I may spread among men all the good that I desire. Where else can I serve God but among men - that is, by good works! But what is a good deed? Any act, whether small or great, that benefits someone or brings praise to God's name. Both are important. For it is not really a good deed, even if it benefits others, if I am praised for it, if I increase my own glory before men. And, on the other hand, it is not a good deed, however religious it may be, however much I may speak of the glory of God, if it does not benefit another man. The most abominable thing in the sight of God is that piety which does not work for the good of any man.
Therefore, the true good work is that through which something of communion with God shines through, through which one feels something of the nearness of the redeeming love of Christ. It may be a word spoken in a place, it may be a look of encouragement, it may be a small manifestation of mercy, love, patience, any act that reveals the reality of the life of Jesus Christ. "Whosoever therefore can do good, and does it not, to him it is sin." And who among the people who have known Jesus Christ could not do something good in this sense? Wherever you are, whatever your occupation, even if you don't like your job or your circumstances, even if you feel you are not called to do what you are called to do, there is one thing you can do always and everywhere: good, something that benefits someone and brings praise to God's name!
Every morning we should go out to live our tasks for the day with the prayer: 'Lord, let someone benefit from your being my Lord! This will not be a dream, but the most edifying reality: to live in such a way that my family, my friends, my co-workers, my church, my country will benefit from knowing, loving and serving Jesus Christ as Lord!
Now that the holidays are over, the vacation time in general is over, a new school year, work year, church year is beginning - life starts again after rest - let our restart, our walk in real life and our progress towards the goal be determined by this prayer.
Let us sing together:
Lead us, Jesus,
And we'll go with you.
Life calls us to fight,
Let us follow you:
Take our hand,
Till we arrive.
Follow our footsteps
We lived to the end,
And, if we walk in ruins,
Let us find support in you,
Till the road runs out,
And open a door in heaven.
(Canto 434, verses 1 and 4)
Amen
Date: 30 August 1953.
Lesson
Lk 12,22-31