Read with Me
James 4:13-17 (HCSB)
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So it is a sin for the person who knows to do what is good and doesn’t do it.
Listen with Me
James turns to another important topic, but it is connected to the previous themes he has touched on, because it has to do with pride, and with living as if God was not in control, and as if this life is all that there is. Such an attitude is completely incompatible with the Christian faith.
The specific area that James addresses here is planning our future as if God was not in control, and as if He is not in the process of working His agenda in and through His people. This is the attitude expressed in this “parable”.
In James’ illustration, people are making plans for the future, even a year or more off. That is not a problem per se. The problem arises because they see themselves as autonomous individuals, and they see the future as something that they have control over. James puts the lie to both of those viewpoints.
First of all, no one is truly autonomous. Even though people have free will, the big picture is always under God’s control. Thus, His will should always be consulted by His people when making any plans. God may have a completely different plan that He wants us to pursue, one more closely aligned with the growth and effectiveness of His Kingdom. But if we don’t ask first what God’s plan is, there is no chance of our fitting into it.
Second, the future is not under the control of any human being, not a year from now, not a day from now, not even an hour from now. Many people with large goals and detailed plans to achieve them have suddenly found themselves on the other side of eternity without any advance notice, and all their fine plans turn to ashes. (See Luke 12:13-21 for a similar example given by Jesus.)
But, as James points out, God is not saying that no one can or should make plans for the future. He is simply saying that all plans for the future should be made in consultation with Him, and any that are not should be held very loosely, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
This attitude is at the core of verse 17, the context for which is this the whole of James’ letter to this point. James has provided much instruction and many cautions, things to avoid as well as positive actions to take. His point is that if we know the action that we are supposed to take in order to be in God’s will and refuse to take it, that is as much a sin as doing some action that is expressly forbidden by Him.
Pray with Me
Father, this speaks to the all-too-common thing that many Christians do, which is to make our plans for the future, and then come to You, not for You to be given the opportunity to change or negate those plans, but merely with a request for You to bless them. We get so much emotional attachment to our plans that the very idea that you would change or deny them is a horrifying thought that we are not willing to entertain. Forgive us, Lord, for this propensity. It is truly neglecting what we know we should do in favor of what we want to do. Help me to do better from now on. Amen.