The phrase comes from James 4:13-15 where James tells the church the following: “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.”
James gives us a caution not only against how we speak, but the meaning and thoughts behind the words we use.
Firstly, we do need to be cautious when speaking of or for the Lord. The name of God is not a word to give emphasis, to stress a point, or to express excitement, frustration, or confusion. Yet so many today use the name of Jesus in a way that is profane. The name of Jesus, the name of God, and the Holy Spirit should be held in honor and treated with respect. Exodus 20:7 tells us in the 10 Commandments, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
But James is not talking about those to use the name of God improperly. He’s talking about people that should be including God and they aren’t. So we don’t take the phrase lightly for two reasons. One, it has the name of God. But two, for the reason James provides: “you do not know what tomorrow will bring”.
Some people might take this to such an extreme to mean that the Bible teaches we can’t look ahead, think about next week or next year but that isn’t the point James is making. The point of this passage is that God needs to be a part of our plans. We do need to be diligent, and faithful, and good stewards, and deal responsibly, and focus on the mission, and do the will of God wherever He leads us. We don’t need to think that we’re the ones in charge, that we make the calls, that we’re in total control.
So then how do we plan ahead? How do we think about the future? How do we consider what God could have for us next? We have to pray. We have to look to God. We have to allow God to lead us. We have to look at our plans and ask ourselves if this will help in the mission to bring Jesus to the lost and the lost to Jesus.
James says it a few verses prior: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
So then, as we look ahead for what’s next, let us pray. Let us get into the text. Let us find ways that God is giving us opportunities and resources to help overcome whatever it is that stands in the way of getting the message out of the book and into the hearts and minds of the people around us.
We don’t know what tomorrow holds. But we know what’s been asked of us today, and today we can obey.
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