The Future (Time Part 2)

The Future (Time Part 2)-


     James 4:13-17 states, “13 Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

     Proverbs 27:1 mentions, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.”


     Check out verse 14. It starts by mentioning we have no idea what will happen tomorrow. We don’t even know what will happen in the next minute though we could guess. Let me repeat that, we do not know anything in the future whether near or far. However, we constantly act like we know what’s next. People plan for the newest technology, athletes try to predict the next play, musicians work toward the next concert, students choose colleges, and most people look forward to the weekends. Is it wrong to think ahead? Well no, not exactly. Shall we discuss?

     First, let’s finish up verse 14. Again, it mentions how short our lives are in the scheme of the universe this time calling our lives a, “Vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” I won’t go into too much detail here since I did so in the last post. However, remember we don’t live forever and our lives our actually quite short on the timeline of the world. Right now the average person takes up about one percent of the time the earth’s been around, yet the number keeps shrinking every day. Also, we don’t know the future or our death date. The way we live our minuscule lives, however, can make quite a difference. Think about Kings and Queens or average people who have changed the course of history because of how they used their time such as Martin Luther or the Founding Fathers. Without them would the United States be free?

     In short, Dictionary.com defines boast as, “To speak with exaggeration and excessive PRIDE, especially about oneself.” We hear about do it all the time. Sure, some people boast more than others, and some are very humble. Yet, everyone has boasted one time or another. This scripture mentions boasting in arrogance and says, “All such boasting is evil.” The Proverbs clearly states the message as well, we have no idea about the future so don’t boast about it! Think about it.

     We all plan for the future. Every day we think about what’s next, and occasionally get caught up in it. People spend fifteen to twenty-five years in school. By then, on average, a third of their life has disappeared. We have calendars that show us the future. We plan events and certain dates. We can’t wait until a few days when something special is happening, yet we really have no clue what could happen. Only God knows our future.

     Is it bad to plan ahead? I think it’s almost impossible not to do such a thing. While schooling seems to take forever and like most of it is a waste, we need to educate people, simple as that. We need to plan certain times to be with people otherwise we may never find them. However, maybe we get a little too caught up in tomorrow, and forget to live today. We cannot live in the future, only in the now, so why try to do the impossible. The worst part is we procrastinate and put things off until the future. HOWEVER, God’s plans often contradict ours in which case we need to obey his, so it might be a good idea not to plan too much*.

     Verse 17 states, “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” That’s a pretty powerful and bold statement. James is calling it a sin to not do good if we know not to do it. Well, how do we know? Remember that little voice, your conscience or better yet the Holy Spirit? I’m going to go ahead and say that it won’t be hard to figure out, except we try to make excuses to get out of the situation. This verse is essentially telling us that when we know we are supposed to do something, do it NOW, don’t wait.

     This is perhaps one of my biggest struggles. I tend to make excuses to justify myself for not doing what I should have. Possibly because I’m scared and too much of a wimp and not bold enough to take risks. However, I find that when letting God just use me as a tool and praying for Him to do his will and help me that doing the task becomes much easier. When we ask God to help us and He does, then what excuse do we have then? Remember, prayer is a powerful tool, so use it. Most importantly, when that certain event comes, keep in mind verse seventeen and just do it.

     The future is a difficult issue like most things, yet God ultimately controls it, and so everything is for a purpose. We need not stress too much as long as we listen to the Lord. Our lives are short and we don’t know the future, but God does. The verses both stressed not boasting about tomorrow, which is a good idea. However, we always plan and cannot escape it, but ultimately we must follow God’s way and toss our plans. Lastly, we must not shy away from taking risks and do what we know must be done as stated in verse seventeen. Hopefully, you found something in this pile of mumbling and possibly learned something about the future.

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*Jeremiah 29:11, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”