James 4 : 13-17

Warning about Self-Confidence

"Look here, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? You life is like the morning fog - it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it."

Well, this is a change in plans for me, as ironic as that may sound.

As I am working to find a productive and effective method to read my Bible, Wednesday, I began a search by topic; looking through the concordances. I was searching "jealousy." I read in James 3 and continued to read in James as if God said, "Go on, continue, there's something better here for you." As I read on, I came to the passage above, I couldn't help but think, "Holy cow, Lord, you're good!" I couldn't wait to tell Luis about this revelation - our "plans" for the future are a common topic of conversation and for the past year and half have been about what we want for the future.

Planning is difficult (for me at least) to release hold of, especially when there are so many aspects attached to "the plan for life" - money, babies, location, friends, vacation, and this list, as you know, can be never-ending. I can't say my life is organized and that I live by a scheduled plan of events, however, I never seem to stop worrying about our future and this is an exhausting habit I have to break free from.

And so, since I read James 4 : 13-17 for the first time, I can't stop going back to it. "Your life is like a morning fog - it's here a little, then it's gone." That verse brings a huge smile to my face. It's so refreshing and relieving as I am reminded that God will do the planning for us. It is up to him where I will be, what I will do, and who I will touch - and I need to release.