James 4:13-17

{Prayer}

In 1938, a Massachusetts man went into an Abercrombie and Fitch store and bought a new barometer. He took it home, proudly placed it on the wall, and then he checked the weather. The barometer said “Hurricane.” He thought, “That’s not possible! Hurricanes are for Florida, not Massachusetts!” So the man grabs the barometer and heads back to the store. He tells the clerk, “This barometer is defective. It’s reading ‘Hurricane’.” The clerk gladly refunded the money and the man headed home.

This all happened on September 21, 1938. By the time the man got home, it has been blown away be a hurricane. You know, just when we think the hurricane won’t it, it does! Try as we might, none of us knows the future.

This morning, James helps us grow in Christian maturity when it comes to facing the future. James 4 describes three immature ways we approach the future. The first immature way is to …

Plan without God. James writes, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money’” (4:13).

At first glance, this might sound like someone who’s just being a good and responsible businessman, right? And there is nothing wrong with planning itself. We need to plan. We need to plan our days, our finances, and our future. The Bible encourages us to use wisdom in our planning. Proverbs 16 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps” (16:9). Planning is wise and even necessary.

But James is addressing something different here. He’s not saying that we shouldn’t plan … he’s saying that we often plan without considering God’s will. And that’s where the problem is. It’s not wrong to make plants … it wrong to make plans without acknowledging that God is in control.

You see, when we live our lives as though our plans will happen by our own power, we are living in pride. We say, “I’m in control, I’ve got this”, totally forgetting that our very next breath is in God’s hands. It’s like were saying, “I’ve got everything figured out God. I’ll check in with you if something doesn’t work out.”

But the mature Christian … their response is what James calls us to. “Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (4:15). It’s not about abandoning your plans, but rather submitting your plans to God’s will. It’s saying, “God, I’ve worked hard to plan, but I know the future is in Your hands. Help me to trust that You know what’s best for me, and I’m willing to follow Your lead, no matter what happens.”

Another immature way we approach the future, we presume about the future. James continues, “Why, you do not even know what till happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist {atmos} that appears for a little while and then vanishes … As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil” (4:14, 16).

A man was taking his first plane flight. He was an absolute mess. The pilot tried to calm him down. The pilot asked, “Are you a Christian?” The nervous man said “Yes.” “So don’t you believe that when your time is up you’ll go, and not a moment before?” “Yes” the man replied. “Then what are you nervous about?” Looking at the pilot, the man grimly said “I’m afraid your time will come before mine!” What’s the point of this? Our moment could be any moment.

Why? Because our life is a mist. The Greek word here is atmos. From this we get the English word atmosphere. James asks, “do you want to know what your life is like? It’s like the fog. It comes in the morning and by noon the sun has burned it away.” James says that’s life. “Now you see it. Now you don’t.” The Bible also calls our life a leaf, grass, a shadow, a cloud, a vapor and smoke. You and I are only a heart-beat away from eternity. We go from diapers to dignity to decay. We go from Hot Wheels to Mag Wheels to wheelchairs. James says, “Don’t presume about the future.”

The shortness of life reminds us not just to avoid presuming about the future, but to seize the moment and do what God calls us to do. The immature Christian puts off doing good. “Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” (James 4:17). …

We often think of sin in terms of things we do … the wrong actions or words. But James reminds us that there is also such a thing as the sin of omission. The sin of failing to do the good we know we should do. This might avoid serving others, not helping when we could, or putting off an opportunity to love our neighbor.

I can do absolutely nothing and still sin. Being a Christian is more than avoiding sin. In fact, if all the Christian life consisted of is “don’t, don’t, don’t”, then every dead person would qualify, because dead people don’t do anything but lie there.

The sin of omission is when we put off doing good, when we don’t love or treat our neighbor how we would love or treat ourselves. We all know that there are times when we fail do to the good we know we should do. But there’s another reality at play here. Life is unpredictable. We may plan, and we may think we know what’s coming, but we don’t. Life can change in the blink of an eye. And sometimes, we may face decisions we could never have anticipated for, even with the best intentions, we don’t know what the future holds. Only God knows what lies ahead.

Our money, our health, our jobs, our children, our relationships … they are all up for grabs. So, with the uncertainty of what life holds, how do we face our future? Some people freak out and do destructive things to themselves. Others become control freaks and do destructive things to other people. And pretty much all the time we do what James says not to do … nothing. There has to be a better way, a more mature way to face what lies ahead, right?

King David says in Psalm 31 to make this your prayer, “Lord, my times are in your hands” (31:15). My times are not in my hands. My times are not in the hands of the government or in the hands of a business, an investment, a person, or a group. Those hands, they don’t care about me! They don’t love me! They don’t want to protect me! There is only one set of hands that does that and does it completely, lovingly, and eternally.

That set of hands healed lepers. They embraced children. They raise the dead. They provide food for the hungry. But that set of hands is also bound together by a rope. They would be nailed to a cross. They will be folded across His lifeless body.

But three days later, those cold and lifeless hands will be filled with life and color. Jesus would show those hands to His disciples and later to Thomas saying, “See my hands!” (John 20:27).

Those hands Jesus showed the disciples and Thomas … they are the same hands that hold you. Nailed scared hands. Living hands. Tender hands. Strong hands. Eternal hands. Welcoming hands.

We most certainly do not know what the future holds for us … but we know the One and only Jesus who does. They why we can pray “Lord, my times, all of my times, are always and forevermore … in Your hands.” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord, now and forever. Amen.