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“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. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
James 4:13-17 ESV
I. THE PROBLEM OF PRESUMPTUOUS PLANNING
A. The problem is not people planning. Or pursuing profit. It is presumptous planning.
B. Making plans without consulting God is not just sinful but stupid, too, due to the unpredictability and brevity of life.
II. THE PROPER POSTURE TOWARDS TOMORROW
A. God willing (Deo Volente) is a posture of submission, not just a proclamation we speak.
B. To expect God to just bless our plans is ignorant, arrogant, and sin.
III. NEXT STEPS: THE PRESENT PRE-OCCUPATION WITH TOMORROW
A. Our culture is obsessed with tomorrow, whether it is as an optimist or a realist.
B. Live for today, not tomorrow, while never forgetting about the long tomorrow of eternity (Matthew 6:34, Psalm 90:1-2)
C. Make today count by making today about Christ (1 Samuel 20:3)