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"--
How easy it is for us to get caught up in what WILL happen, rather than immerse ourselves in what IS happening. The fault of many is the assumption that tomorrow will come. It really is arrogant for us to boast about what we will do - as if we have control over the future. Consider the parable of the rich man and his barns in Luke 12. This man was condemned. He made no provision for God, and he boasted in himself.
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.
James puts our life in perspective. How many lives end before preparation is made? How many lives never really get going? Even those who live good long lives are only around for 80 years or so. In view of eternity the comparison to mist seems generous. Consider your breath on a cold day. How long does it take for that breath to disappear? Job compares his life to that of a breath, and a weaver's shuttle (Job 7:6-7). Like the snap of your fingers.
Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."
Here is the alternative, place your trust in the Lord. Who is the creator? Who holds everything together? Who holds the future? The answer is the Lord (Col. 1:16-17).
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
Let us not be arrogant, let us not boast. Let us not merely say, but let us mean "If the Lord wills." We know it, therefore we are expected to do it.
If the Lord wills I'll post Part II tomorrow.
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