“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. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” James 4:13-16
Devotional Thought For The Day
James is discussing our “default mode” of thinking and operating, how we make decisions in our personal life or business, and how we commonly converse about such affairs. Our sinful nature looks only at rational principles and dynamics, considering that the world always runs a certain way, and that God has little or no concern in our successes or failures, that it is really all up to us. Of course we are aware of “anomalies” and “mysteries,” times when things don’t work out as they should have – but it does us little good to waste time worrying about such things; we cannot understand them and they are outside of our control. So we go on doing the best we can, making choices and decisions on the basis of our worldly wisdom and business acumen, and when we succeed we appropriate the credit to ourselves. This “natural” and “normal” way of thinking is identified as “arrogance” and “boasting” – and is clearly identified with evil. Yet it all seems so natural to us, and to virtually all others around us with whom we conduct our business affairs, that James’ suggestion of remembering that everything belongs in God’s power seems a bit ridiculous.
Is it really necessary to add “the good Lord willing” to every proposal we make about future activities? First, it is not just the “words” that the Lord is concerned about, but rather the condition of our heart, that we be living in an intimate relationship of faith and trust in Him. It is not the “words” but rather the reality of humble faith in God’s love – regardless of how things turn out for us – that is of chief importance. Of course, it is also important to bear witness to others of such humble faith and trust in God, and to invite them to join us in living in such a loving and intimate relationship with God, the Almighty, the only True and Living God. We do so first by humbly acknowledging and confessing our own sins, and bearing witness to the comfort and joy that is ours because God has assured us of His full and complete forgiveness and pardon in Christ Jesus. We acknowledge that we are but flesh, and have only a “little time” in this world, but that through faith in Christ God has promised us eternal life in the wonders of His heaven. If God has so loved us as to resolve these essential issues for us, then we have faith that He will always be granting us blessing as we entrust our decisions, our entire lives, into His good and gracious hands.
This does not guarantee that the outcome of our decisions [the “profit” we are anticipating] will always be what we desire and expect. It will preserve us from “blaming” God and rejecting His love when things turn out poorly and we are burdened with greater problems. And more importantly, it will preserve us from the kind of arrogance and boasting that we usually hear from the “successful” people of the world. Though they don’t know it, they too are but a “mist” and will soon vanish – and such arrogance negates humble repentance and faith in God’s gracious mercy and love. Obviously, they will not fare well in the next life, depending on themselves, their own works and acumen, to bring “success.” Rather, as Jesus solemnly asserts: “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” [John 3:36] That will be a rude experience of the reality that all depends on the Lord, His blessing and His good and gracious will, and not our will and determination.
We presume that within the church it is understood by all that we are responsible to make wise decisions in all matters, but that “success” and blessedness are in the Lord’s hands. From time to time it is important to verbalize this – because our sinful nature, our “default mode” of thinking, rejects faith and trust in God and arrogantly appropriates God’s glory to ourselves. Does this happen within the church? You know that it does, and we also have these “evil” dynamics at work within us. So let us confess these sins, and remember to work at putting all faith and trust in the Lord, and commending all of our decisions into His hands, so that we know that it is from God that all our blessings flow. How blessed we are when we live this way, in humble, realistic faith and trust in the Lord alone!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus Christ, remind us of our real size, our lack of control over what really matters, and of Your good and gracious will toward us, especially that we should know Your love and live humbly in faith and trust in You. Preserve us from capitulating to the natural arrogance of our sinful nature and from falling into the great evil of boasting. Grant success – what You know is best for us – in all of our endeavors. Amen.