by J. Randal Matheny

In his practical letter, James entertains such a philosophical question as, "What is your life?" (Jas. 4:14, ESV). But his interest is not philosophical. He demonstrates by the question/1 that life is short and we cannot assume we'll be alive tomorrow. James questions our assumptions about how life really works and of what it actually consists.

The nature of the essence of life is a frequent subject in the Bible, as we might expect. As Moses winds down his series of farewell sermons, he too addresses the issue.

"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them" (Deut. 30:19-20, NASU).

By his phrase, "this is your life," the embattled leader points up at least three qualities that make up what life is, or should be.

1. Your life is CHOOSING GOD.

The old adage, "Life is what you make it," is close to being true. Life is, truly, as you choose it.

God made man a being conscious of himself, his surroundings, his social relationships, and the invisible realities beyond his senses. He created man with free will, with the ability to choose for himself. With that, he became a creature capable of love and righteousness, capable of true interaction with his Creator.

The story of man is the history of his choices. Recognizing that, Moses urges Israel to choose rightly, wisely, godly. Their choice must be for faithfulness, loyalty, constancy.

"The making of a decision, however, involved more than simple affirmation; it involved a whole way of life based upon that decision."/2

Choice is not God, but choice certainly brings one to God and to life in and with God.

2. Your life is RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.

To choose life is to choose God. The atheist is a fool, says the Psalmist, because in his struggle against God he admits by his negation that he is overpowered by the existence of God.

The English Standard Version translates our key phrase here as, "he is your life."/3 God is your life. The NASU margin says that it is literally, "that is your life," and P. C. Craigie so translates it, apparently referring to the choice.

In the end, both translations are correct. The choosing puts one in relationship with God, who gives life and makes life what it ought to be. Perhaps the ESV wanted to get away from the idea of life depending upon any action of ours and point directly to God as the source of life.

However that may be, Moses' phrases, "by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him" all point to our relationship with God and to what must be its necessary basis.

In the New Testament, the same truth is evident.

John writes of Jesus, "In Him was life" (John 1:4a).

Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

True life is surrendering to God and to being found by him.

3. Your life is RECEIVING THE PROMISE OF GOD.

God had promised to make of Abraham a great people and give him a special land in which to dwell. Moses now reminds Israel that God is fulfilling his promises, but their enjoyment of its fulfillment depends upon their faithfulness.

The New Testament makes use of the language of inheriting the land and spiritualizes it for the church of God. "Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth," Jesus proclaimed. Inheriting the earth in this beatitude is on the same plane as receiving the kingdom of God, seeing God, and being called the sons of God, among others.

In Ephesians 6:3, Paul apparently reinterprets the promise attached to honoring one's father and mother, of living long on the earth, in spiritual terms.

The land promise was restricted to Israel under the Old Testament. Now, Christians await "new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells" (2 Pet. 3:13).

In Christ we have, says Peter, "precious and magnificent promises" far greater than the Israelites could ever imagine (2 Pet. 1:4). These promises, the greatest of which is to "become partakers of the divine nature," compel us to add every divine quality to our faith (vv. 5-9). Thus, the promises entail the very nature of what our life is all about.

Summing Up

There seems to be a subtle difference between saying "this brings life" and "this is life." The latter might be well expressed by the popular phrase, said perhaps by one out on the lake fishing or stretched out in a hammock, "This is the life!" The act engaged in supposedly expresses what it means to truly live.

Similarly, we may say that, in the very act of choosing God, of relating to God, and of receiving the promises of God, this is the life. This is what it means to be alive.

Choose life; choose God; choose his promises. This is YOUR life.

1/ The NASU text takes the question as part of a statement: "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow."

3/ Also, ASV and AMP; NIV: "For the Lord is your life;" RSV/NRSV: "for that means life to you." Clyde M. Woods comments, "Less likely is the older rendering, 'he is your life' (Living Way Commentary, vol. II [Lambert Book House, 1974], p. 288).