Morning Devotional
August  11, 2005
"A Life Metaphor"      
    by Don Emmitte

Look here, you people who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." Otherwise you will be boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. (James 4:14-16, NIV).

 

Rick Warren has written that the way you define life determines your destiny. In fact, he states: “The way you view life is your life metaphor. It's your description of how life works and what you expect from it.”

 

There is great truth to that statement. The way you view your life influences you more than you realize and determines your expectations, values, relationships, goals, and priorities. To fulfill the purposes God has for you, you will have to base your view on the biblical metaphors of life. These are: Life is a challenge, and life is a trust.

 

I’m sure you’ve noticed the challenge part of life! Our character, faith, obedience, love, integrity, and loyalty are constantly challenged in various ways. In some ways you might say that we are being tested. It is not a test in the sense that we may pass or fail. It is a test in that we are constantly being measured. Others around us observe and measure our capacities for living life. When you understand that life is such a test, you realize that every day is important. God wants you to pass the tests of life, so he never allows the tests to be greater than the grace he gives you to handle them.

 

This is where trust enters into the equation. Life is a trust. We are to be stewards of whatever God gives us. All we enjoy is to be treated as a trust that God has placed in our hands. The more God gives you, the more responsible he expects you to be.

If you treat everything as a trust, God promises three rewards in eternity: affirmation, promotion, and celebration.

 

That’s the “life metaphor” that Rick Warren talks about. I have affirmed this principle in my life. There are those experiences in life that are just about all I can bear. In fact they seem to be more than I can bear at the time I am walking through them! You may be experiencing those circumstances today. Concentrate on the now of life and trust God for the tomorrow. Remind yourself of the faithfulness of God in the past. Recount your victories and rest in the knowledge that more are yet to come.

 

To those who seem to be “coasting” along right now, here’s a special word of caution: take special care to acknowledge your dependence on God. Who knows when your “test” is scheduled!