Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”
You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring-what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while then vanishes.
Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”     James 4:13-25 HCSB

My boss often reminded us of things like proper prior planning prevented poor performance. He would also be quick to tell us when we considered something urgent, that failure to plan on our part did not constitute an emergency on his part.

We are always encouraged to plan. We are encouraged to put money away in the event of an emergency. We are encouraged to plan and be ready in the event of an emergency. Many jobs require training in CPR and First Aid to help us be able to help others in a medical emergency.

We fortify our houses with fences, gates, big dogs and firearms to prevent criminals from coming into our homes.

We buy insurance to protect us financially in the event of a tragedy.

So, is this Scripture passage saying we shouldn’t plan? There are Scripture passages that encourage us to plan like Proverbs 21:5 which says, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty. ” Proverbs 6:6-8 tells us to pay attention to the ant because without having any supervisor, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food for harvest.

In Luke 16:28, Jesus asks “For which of you wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?”

The Bible certainly encourages us to plan. So, do these Scriptures contradict each other? No. So, what did James mean when he said, “We should say if the Lord wills we will do this and do that.”?

James was not saying we should not plan, but he was saying we must keep in mind that we are not promised tomorrow. There is no Scripture in the Bible that tells me or you exactly how long we will live here on earth. Jesus spent His ministry encouraging people to repent and be saved. James is pointing out here that none of us know what our future holds. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow or even ten seconds from now. And when we plan, we should acknowledge that we will carry out this plan if the Lord allows us to do so.

Only God knows these things. I’ve seen people be asked if they are saved and heard many reply, “Oh, I’ll do that later” or “I have plenty of time to worry about that.” But the truth of the matter is none of us know how long we have to get saved.

If you have decided that you want to spend eternity in heaven, then I strongly encourage you to set about making your reservations right this minute. Don’t wait. Tomorrow may be too late.

James tells us how we can go about this in chapter 4 verses 6-8. In verse 6 he tells us to humble ourselves because the Lord gives more grace to the humble. We are all sinners in need of a Savior, so we must repent of our sins and humble ourselves before Him.

In verse 7 he encourages us to submit to God. Once we have humbled ourselves, it’s a natural progression to submit to our Lord and Savior.

And in verse 8 he tells us to draw near to God. We can’t be saved unless God calls us to salvation, but if we are willing to draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. He never forces us to accept His salvation, but He will gladly save us if we want to be saved. As we do this, we must cleanse our hands, purify our hearts, and single-mindedly trust in Him.

My friend if you have not been truly saved, I strongly encourage you not to delay in this decision. The time is now.

Have a great day!