A humbled and open heart is fertile soil for God’s seeds of wisdom to be planted. Deeper Roots is focused on analyzing God’s word to discover truths, values, and lessons for application to our lives. Periodically, a scripture or passage calls for further exploration, like 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”— 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
James 4:13-16 esv
Our Deeper Roots passage in James gives us a godly perspective on boasting. Our passage was written by James, one of the early leaders of the Christian church. The book of James contains practical wisdom for the Christian walk. James begins with an example of a commonly used boastful statement about what they would do in the future. Then, James counters how that phrase is actually rooted in self-centeredness and pride because no one knows the future. He shares that the correct perspective is remembering God’s will. He finishes with a reminder that boasting and bragging like that is evil.
Trying to plan the future without God is rooted in worldliness. As Christians, we are well aware that the future is unpredictable, but we know who holds it all together. For us to make plans about the future without consulting God first is no different than other nonbelievers. James challenges us to start with God’s will first and let that guide our actions. He exposes the flawed beliefs that were contributing to self-centered, self-confident plans over God’s plans. But, he doesn’t leave without providing some truth and wisdom for combating the flawed mindset. James advises a shift in perspective to a godly one; looking to find God’s bigger picture.
It’s boastful to make our own plans without guidance from our Heavenly Father. It’s like saying we trust you, but not enough to submit our plans to you. As we get ready to embark on a new year, let’s try something different. Instead of getting frustrated with plans that God didn’t tell us to do, we are going to seek Him first. We are committing to looking at God’s bigger picture instead of our own limited plans.
Amen. Seeking His will FIRST leaves less room for the messes I make when I go solo.