James 4:13-17
Have you given thought to your life? My pastor shared that as we go into our
sixties and beyond, our thinking about death will be more frequent. It may not be as frequent as the
teenage boy thinks about sex, but it follows that same pattern of thought. My goal in writing this is to awaken
Christians to what the Manufactures Hand-Book on Life tells us about living in
victory in our years on planet earth, the years that were written in the Book
of Life. It is very important to understand
that God alone knows what that number is, but He has told us that we cannot add
even one day to our physical days on planet earth, and Jesus said that in Luke
12:25 and in Matthew 6:27, but we do have a choice on how we spend those days.
I am amazed when watching gymnastics, the exercises require
physical strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, balance, and grace. The
Christian life also requires balance, and all extremes will lead to a
fall. I call that living
independently from the plan God has for our lives, and it will always cause a
wreck. My view of the Christian
life is a sixteen lane super highway going one way, with a single contra flow
lane going in the opposite direction right up the middle of them; you are
totally safe going against the flow, but there are many exciting enticements
found in going the other way. And
James is giving us a “watch-out” in these verses.
“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. So whoever
knows the right thing to do and fails to do it for him it is sin.”
The sixteen-lane super high-way has a way of making us
anxious, most of us have bought into the world’s smooth advertisements on how
much better life will be on the sixteen-lane highway, but how is it working for
you? My observation is that many
of you are consumed with fear and anxiety over the “what-if’ the dollar loses
it world status or “what-if” we become more socialist so that the government
takes over and tells us what we can or cannot do? All the ads are not focused on getting you off the contra
flow single lane some are designed to render you totally ineffective on that single
lane, to remove you from believing the promises of God and being totally
dependent on Him. It does matter
to God about the road you are on, the sixteen-lane highway or the contra flow,
Jesus has some great council for us in Matthew 6:25-34. Verse 34, Jesus gives as a wrap-up, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow
will be anxious for itself.
Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
From the Back Porch,
Bob Rice
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