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.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15
Summer is speeding by fast. I just recently thawed out from our extended winter and here it is the end of summer already. I ventured into the local craft store last week to check out the sales, and I was appalled to see that the store was full of Fall and Christmas merchandise. I had the urge to turn and run! My one thought was, “No! This is so wrong!”
Why can’t we live in the moment? Why can’t we enjoy what we have today without thinking about what will happen tomorrow? Why can’t we thank God for the blessings He has given us today and just be happy? My rational mind knows the reasons, of course, but my heart just doesn’t understand. Jesus tells us in Luke 12:22-31, “Therefore, I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes… Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor nor do they spin. Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his splendor was not dressed like one of these.”
I know that in the 21st Century we have obligations to our jobs, our families, our finances. We live by fiscal years, five-year plans, ten-year plans, and even some organizations have thirty-year plans. In our church life we have yearly budgets that we need to be true to, to be good stewards of. Planning is an important, necessary part of our lives. But all this planning, all this preparation for the future can make us believe that we are in charge. These are our plans and if we stick to them everything will turn out as we envision. We are talented, competent people so it follows that, if we plan it to the best of our intellect and abilities, it will be so. And for the most part, this is true. But is this what we should be doing? Are we so tied to the plan or the budget or the long range goal that we forget God and His role in our lives? James tells us, 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.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” James 4:13-15.
Our plans are good, I know that the plans for our church are made with the invocation of the Holy Spirit, and in so doing we are agreeing that God has the power to change those plans at His will. Our job is to be open and willing to accept those changes at His leading.
Prayer: Lord, my prayer for us is that we will be open to the moving of the Spirit, and willing to act when we hear His voice. Amen.
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