James 4:13-17English Standard Version (ESV)
13 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”— 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to
say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in
your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the
right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
As a small child
I learned this lesson very well. My
sister and I planned to go to the firework stand and planned on being home on
time for supper. Circumstances beyond
our control changed those plans for the rest of my life. I know that God can take me at anytime or
Jesus could return at any time. If I
depend on myself rather than God, the planning is wrong. I have committed to a two-year graduate
program at a major University yet I know that much can happen in two minutes
let alone two years. I have plans to
work at least five more years, yet I know that a lot can happen in five
years. I planned to retire from
education yet God chose a different path for me. If I am arrogant in my planning and forget
that God needs to be a part of my every moment then I have sinned. In all I do, God’s will is a part of it. I may not always say, “if it is God’s will
yet that is an assumed part of my life”.
In my everyday
life I may say, “See you tomorrow” or “Talk to you later” but I also know that
time may or may not come. It is a given
that it is God’s will that determines if that comes to pass or not. My intentions may be good but God’s plan in
what counts. These verses are telling us
to depend on God and know that He is in control. In everything we do know that it is really
only through the grace of God that we are able to complete it. We need to not only seek Him and know that He
is with us each step of the way but also act like we know it. If God were physically standing next to us
right now would we say and act differently?
If the answer is yes, then change needs to occur because He is here with
us and knows our every word and action, He is in control.
Seeking Him with
all my heart,
Sheila
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