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. James 4:13-14
Here are people with plans. “Here is what I want to do: I am going to live in this or that city. I will go to this college; pursue this career. We are going to marry and we are going to have children. We are going to plant a church. We would like to send out ten pastors, church planters, and missionaries every year!”
It is good to have plans, but James says, “Remember, when you plan for the future, you don’t even know if you will be here! What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes (4:14). Everything we hope to do in life depends on God’s grace and on God’s strength, so “instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”
The short life we have in this world is very uncertain. God calls us to travel a winding path. We walk by faith, not by sight. None of us can see what is around the next corner. It may be a great trial, or it may be a great joy.
None of us knows for sure what will happen tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year. But here’s the thing: We don’t know what will happen tomorrow, but for all those who are in Christ, we do know the final outcome of our lives.
Are you living (and talking) like everything you do depends on God’s grace and on God’s strength?
