Plans

Journey through James: 4:13-16

Come 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”⁠— yet 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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. — James 4:13-16

James continues to instruct the early church. He has warned us about our speech, our arguments, and our judgments, and now he will discuss how we make our plans. 

Some of us are wired to make plans and have everything on a schedule. Others of us, myself included, do not make a strict schedule. However, while not all of us are meticulous planners, we all plan to some extent. James is not arguing for us not to make plans in this passage. What he is arguing for is for us to have a proper perspective when we make plans. 

Too often we make plans without eternal perspective. James warns against making plans from a merely worldly perspective. James gives us a great question to think about when we make plans: “What is your life?” This question is meant to help us gain perspective on our lives and our plans. In the scope of eternity, our lives are nothing more than a mist. We appear for a little time and then are gone. We do not have control over what tomorrow will bring. We have no control over what the next hour will bring. 

Scripture is not telling us not to make plans; God’s Word is telling us that we need to make these plans in light of God’s sovereignty and eternity. We should make our plans realizing that we must entrust them to God. James’s solution to making arrogant plans is not to stop making plans. The solution for this issue is similar to what it has been throughout this letter: humility. We need to submit our plans and desires to God and His will for our lives. To have victory over sin and pride, we need to submit to God and His Word. We get into trouble when we think too highly of ourselves and our own control over our lives. From the beginning of his letter, James has been reminding us that to have a victorious Christian life we need to humbly seek God.

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. — James 1:21

When we add, “Lord willing,” to our plans we are stating that our plans are subject to God’s will. Paul did this when he told the church in Rome about his plans to visit them. He reminded them that he desired to visit them but that he did have to follow God’s leading (Romans 15:22-33). However, we should never use the phrase “Lord willing” as an excuse to not follow through on what we have said. James will get to this in the next chapter when he tells us:

But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.— James 5:12

We need to humbly give our plans and desires to the Lord and follow His leading.