Author: Kevin

The Book of James includes this admonition:

¹³Come 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”— ¹⁴yet 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. ¹⁵Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

-James 4:13-15

James is not arguing against planning or even making profits. The Bible, in fact speaks of both of these activities in positive terms, so long as they are done honestly (Proverbs 6:6-8 comes to mind).

Instead, James is warning about a specific danger: planning as though God is not part of the equation.

James even gives us some practical reasons to avoid a presumptuous attitude about life in verse 14.

First, we see that life is unpredictable (“you do not know what tomorrow will bring”). We can and should do our best to plan wisely–God is not honored by a life that is lived irresponsibly or haphazardly.

But consider this: Some of the most significant events in your life will be things you never planned. 

The year 2012 was a prime example of this for me. I had moved from Manila to Angeles City with the sole intention of helping my friend plant a church. But God had even more in store for me. I ended up meeting my wife the day after I moved. We were married within weeks. One of the greatest earthly blessings a man can experience is that of finding a godly wife. This blessing came to me at a time and in a way I never would have expected.

But 2012 would end in heartbreak. I vividly remember receiving a text from the United States informing me that my Mom would soon step into eternity. She was a Christian, so she was prepared. But I was devastated--her death meant she would never meet my wife in person. These verses in Job took on a new meaning:

²⁰Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. ²¹And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

-Job 1:20-21

You may have been through a season in life that is even more extreme than what I’ve shared. But one way or another, we all learn that life surprises us with both joy and pain. As I’ve argued before, God has a way of wrecking our plans.

We are also warned that life is fleeting. James describes it as a “mist” (vs. 14).

Here’s the irony: I don’t think one appreciates how quickly life goes by until it’s about halfway over. It takes at least a few decades to even begin to grasp it. It seems like we reach the end before we even begin to understand God’s goodness and wisdom.

Here’s a quote that has always resonated with me:

“Life is a short and fevered rehearsal for a concert we cannot stay to give. Just when we appear to have attained some proficiency we are forced to lay our instruments down.”

-AW Tozer

The “mist” analogy of verse 14 also warns us that life is temporary.

Put another way, life is a temporary assignment heading towards an eternal destination.

Every man, woman, boy and girl has an immortal soul. This temporal earthly life, biblically speaking, is preparation for eternity. The ending of biological life is only the beginning of something even more significant. Those who have trusted Christ will enjoy His presence for eternity. Those who have rejected Him will spend eternity regretting it.

We live in a reality of eternal consequence. It’s only fitting that we live with an eternal perspective.

Life is unpredictable. Life is fleeting. Life is temporary.

How should we live in light of these realities? The answer is in verse 15: “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

The wisest path in life is to live in submission to the will of God. We submit to the One who knows and holds the future. We submit to the One who will maximize these few, fleeting years for His eternal purposes.

The first step in living this kind of life is to believe the gospel and trust Christ as your Lord and Savior.

Once you’ve trusted Christ, obey Him! This is the essence of submission–obedience. I can’t think of a single time that I have regretted obeying God and doing His will. Disobedience, on the other hand, has only left me with regrets–regrets for wasted time that was never mine to begin with.

Choose wisely. Live wisely.

Father, I thank you for your promise to give wisdom to those who genuinely seek it (James 1:5). I know that Your plan for me is one that will bring glory to You and joy to me. I pray that I will live wisely and obediently with an eternal perspective.

James gives us the following warning about having a heart full of jealousy or envy:

But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice.

-James 3:14-16

A jealous heart, according to God’s word, has been influenced by our own selfish desires, the ungodly values of the world, and the devil himself. Such a heart will not produce good outcomes. Jealousy was, in fact, the sinister force behind the first homicide (Genesis 4:1-8).

It is foolish to be jealous or envious of others. I would like you to consider four realities we have forgotten (or chose to ignore) when we are consumed by jealousy and envy.

First and foremost, a jealous heart has forgotten the grace of God.

Grace is at the heart of the gospel. It is the truth that because of what Christ has done on my behalf, I receive something from God that I have not earned and do not even deserve. What I deserve is judgement and rejection. But through Christ I receive just the opposite: forgiveness, mercy, and even adoption as a child of God.

It’s impossible for me to be jealous of others when I consider the amazing grace that God has expressed towards me!

Next, a jealous heart has forgotten the goodness of God.

Not only is God gracious, He is good. Any good thing I have in life is because God has, in His goodness, given it to me (James 1:17).

It’s foolish to be jealous of others because they may be blessed differently than I. I could, for example, choose to be jealous of people with a full head of hair. But I would rather be thankful that, at 50+ years old, I have a body that still works.

I can choose to be jealous or to be grateful, but I can’t be both.

A jealous heart has forgotten the sovereignty and wisdom of God.

Have you ever been thankful that God did not give you what you wanted? I’ve lost count of the number of times when I have been disappointed, only to discover that receiving what I asked for would have been disastrous!

I have learned that God closes doors for a reason. I can trust Him to give me what I need, when I need it. What He chooses to give someone else has no bearing on His plan for my life. I pray that you will learn the same lesson (maybe sooner than I have).

Finally, a jealous heart has forgotten that things are not always as they appear.

A couple of weeks ago I watched a video of a woman tearfully confessing that she and her husband were separated. I don’t know much about her, but she and her family apparently have millions of social media followers. I’m sure many of them were shocked by the news. How could a seemingly happy family fall apart with no warning?

The answer is pretty simple: things were not as they seemed. Social media bombards us with images of perfect, happy lives. I get it–I have no desire to post videos/photos of my worst moments.

But we must be mindful of this: what you see on social media is a highly edited version of one’s life. If you are not careful you may find yourself being envious of an illusion–of a life that doesn’t even exist in reality.

Father, forgive me for those times I have allowed jealousy and envy to reign in my heart. I pray that I will instead have a heart full of gratitude for your grace, goodness, and wisdom–all of which have been so richly expressed in my life.