From James 4:13-17

If you’ve ever talked to me about future plans, you may have heard me respond flippantly something along the lines of “I’ll be there . . . unless, you know, I get hit by a meteor between now and then, in that case I will not be there.” It’s mostly a joke, because if I did actually get hit by a meteor I would probably not be making it to anything afterwards, but getting hit by a meteor seems pretty unlikely.

The humor that I’m overanalyzing relies on what James is talking about in these verses, we genuinely don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.  You can plan all you want and put everything into place, but ultimately it is up to God whether something is going to happen or not.  That isn’t to say we shouldn’t plan for the future, but we should never have the arrogance to ignore God’s will overcoming anything we might do.  James closes this section by saying “whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is a sin.” We never know what will happen in the future, so when the opportunity to do the right thing is in front of us, we should always take advantage of it.  That way, no matter what else happens, we can say that we did right with the time we were given.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously is in control of our future, it is in His hands.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to do right whenever we have the opportunity.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for taking care of you up to this point.
• Confess to God the times where you put off doing the right thing.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to conform you to Christ.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious