No Guarantee

James 4:13-17 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

It amazes me how often we, as Christians, talk about future things, like what we are going to do later, tomorrow, or the next day, and never say, "Lord willing." First and foremost, we know that the return of our God and King, Jesus, to retrieve His church, can happen at any moment. Secondly, death can come knocking on our door at any moment; and for those reasons alone we are never guaranteed another day of life, or even our next breath. James tells us that life is like a vapor, which disappears quickly. This is not to say that we should not plan for the future. This is more so a warning that we do not, in our arrogance and pride, plan for tomorrow as if God does not have a say in what will happen. We can make all our plans, but we must always keep in mind that what we are planning for the future may not likely be what God has planned for our future. I have always said that in planning for tomorrow, "We need to make our plans in pencil and give God the eraser." The question becomes, "How do we know that we have truly considered God in our planning?" Well, that is actually pretty simple. We need to ask ourselves, "How much have I prayed about this?" "Are my plans in line with how He has called me to serve Him?" But the real truth teller is this one, "How upset do I get when God changes my plans?" The truth of the matter is this, "There are many plans in a man's heart, nevertheless the LORD's counsel-- that will stand" (Proverbs 19:21) "A man's steps are of the LORD; how then can a man understand his own way?" (Proverbs 20:24) James makes it very clear that planning without considering God's plan, failing to consider the possibility of His return, or our own death, is boastful; meaning that it is a prideful self confidence. We do not hold our own life in our hands. Every breath we take is in the LORD's hand. So today, as we go about living and making plans, consider the LORD, and the fact that we have no guarantee of tomorrow. Instead, in all we say we are going to do, let us get into the honest habit of saying, "I will do this or that, if the LORD wills."

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).