Life is a Vapor.

"Life is short. Eternity is long. Live like it."

A little green hard-back book. I don't think I ever would have stopped to pick it up if I hadn't seen John Piper's name printed in block letters on the spine. You should know that I'm a big fan of John Piper.

Life is a Vapor. Not a particularly uplifting title. I know that life is short. And I don't like to be reminded of that. People live. And people die. And the world keeps turning. Life goes on. At least for a little while...at least for as long as I'm living it.

You don't have to look far to find the scary reality of untimely death. A boy in my high school class won't be graduating with me this May. Too many of my friends live in single-parent homes, not because of divorce, but because cancer and car wrecks and heart attacks aren't fair. And all weekend long, insensitive news stations have been playing and replaying footage of the death of the 21 year old Olympic athlete who slipped from his luge on Friday.

Tomorrow is never certain. We must make the most of today.

That's exactly the point that John Piper makes in his 31 day devotional. "Life is short. Eternity is long. Live like it." is emblazoned across the back of the book. I wonder what my life would look like if I really lived that way.

I guess I really shouldn't have to wonder. I should already be living that way. There is no guarantee that I'll be here tomorrow...or even this afternoon.

In James 4:13-15, we are reminded of humanity's fragile ephemerality: "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."

I am so guilty of boasting in tomorrow. Not the eternal tomorrow that I can be certain of, but the worldly tomorrow of school and friends now...camp in the summer...college in the fall. I'm even haughty enough to boast in my plans that I have for 5 years down the road. But ultimately, it's none of my business how God uses me and how long he keeps me here.

"Life is short" is a dismal reminder when taken by itself, but "Eternity is long" draws in an entirely new perspective. I am not long of this world, whether I live into old age or not. Ultimately, my life is in Christ. I was created to live eternally, to exist forever. That's where I should set my sights.

So I'll love life and cherish every moment that I'm given. I'll love people like there's no tomorrow and not leave any "I love yous" unsaid. I'll love Christ with the fullness of my being and forsake the things of this world for his glory. Life is short and when mine ends I don't want to regret having wasted a moment of it. Eternity is long. I plan to live like it.