"...what is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then it vanishes." James 4:14b
The substance of life is filled by the actions and our motives. Things that inspire us that draw us into action. At times our lives come across moments that deteriorate our life substance, while at other times enhance our life substance. James makes the statement that our life on this plane is just a mere breath in eternity. As man pursues his significance in his culture/society he must realize that the memory of his legacy will fade.
In the movie "Gladiator," the slavemaster, Proximo, tells the hero, Maximus, "Life is but shadows and dust-- shadows and dust." But more importantly, the statement that bears the ultimate truth is when Maximus is about to go into battle and says to his men, "What we do in this lifetime will echo in eternity!"
You see, what we do in our earthly lives is what determine our destiny in eternity. We need to develop true substance within our lives. This true substance is determined by the "good" that we do along with the proper motive to do these "good" things. God created us in His image. With that being so we read in the Genesis account that everything God created was "good," therefore we too are "good." God generates good. With us being the image of God the reflection of His glory, we too are called to generate good. There are a multitude of ways for us to generate good, but it can be summarized by doing the following: 1) Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and 2) Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
With these as our compass we will be on the path to forming true substance in our lives!
