Resolutions
This week's study is on James 4:13-17:
It's the time of year when people make new year's resolutions, and it reminded me of these verses. James tells us to be humble about our future plans. It's easy to make promises about losing weight or learning Spanish or whatever, but without humility we may be making a promise we can't keep.
James' example seems reasonable on the surface: "Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” It's pretty much like any business plan you would see today, or any college graduate's stated goals. But really we have no idea what will happen because we can't see the future. Maybe a better opportunity comes up. Maybe we decide to change careers. Maybe there's an economic crash and nobody makes a profit. It's arrogant to say with certainty what the future will hold because only God knows the answer to that. It's evil to misrepresent our ability to deliver by having false certainty in the future.
So many things happen that are part of God's plan and not part of ours. It's better to say "if God wills it, I will do such and such" than it is to say with certainty that it will happen. Deferring to God's will acknowledges that we are not in ultimate control of the universe, that we're just tiny parts of a much larger plan, and that our intentions can be genuine even if the outcome isn't always what we planned. Humility sets the stage for grace and correction, rather than ending up a contest between our desires and the unknown.
It's fine to make plans, and to resolve to do better. The thing we want to avoid is taking our plans too seriously and forgetting that our will alone is not always enough to reach the finish line. The only thing we can do is do our best. In fact, that's what James tells us to do. "Whoever knows what is good to do and doesn't do it is guilty of sin." In other words, instead of promising to do X, Y, and Z and hanging plans on those promises, just do your best and trust God for the rest.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You do not know about tomorrow. What is your life like? For you are a puff of smoke that appears for a short time and then vanishes. You ought to say instead, “If the Lord is willing, then we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast about your arrogant plans. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows what is good to do and does not do it is guilty of sin.
It's the time of year when people make new year's resolutions, and it reminded me of these verses. James tells us to be humble about our future plans. It's easy to make promises about losing weight or learning Spanish or whatever, but without humility we may be making a promise we can't keep.
James' example seems reasonable on the surface: "Today or tomorrow we will go into this or that town and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” It's pretty much like any business plan you would see today, or any college graduate's stated goals. But really we have no idea what will happen because we can't see the future. Maybe a better opportunity comes up. Maybe we decide to change careers. Maybe there's an economic crash and nobody makes a profit. It's arrogant to say with certainty what the future will hold because only God knows the answer to that. It's evil to misrepresent our ability to deliver by having false certainty in the future.
So many things happen that are part of God's plan and not part of ours. It's better to say "if God wills it, I will do such and such" than it is to say with certainty that it will happen. Deferring to God's will acknowledges that we are not in ultimate control of the universe, that we're just tiny parts of a much larger plan, and that our intentions can be genuine even if the outcome isn't always what we planned. Humility sets the stage for grace and correction, rather than ending up a contest between our desires and the unknown.
It's fine to make plans, and to resolve to do better. The thing we want to avoid is taking our plans too seriously and forgetting that our will alone is not always enough to reach the finish line. The only thing we can do is do our best. In fact, that's what James tells us to do. "Whoever knows what is good to do and doesn't do it is guilty of sin." In other words, instead of promising to do X, Y, and Z and hanging plans on those promises, just do your best and trust God for the rest.
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