A life without God

Have you ever stopped to think how your life might have turned out if you had made different decisions? What if you had married someone other than the person that you did marry, or what if you had studied and prepared yourself for a different type of occupation than what you are doing now? There are so many “ifs” in life that it is likely not profitable or wise to constantly think on these things because they are in the past. Likewise, it is equally unprofitable to make plans in life without including God. There is actually an exhortation in James 4:13-17 that deals with this very issue. We would do well to ponder upon it in light of our journey through this life:

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’ message here is quite profound and applicable. What good is our life without God? The problem was that there were those making plans without including God. Somehow they had forgotten that it is God who is in control of all things, including what they might be able to do or not do in the future. There were many who had made plans to be in certain places for a certain period of time, doing business in a certain city, and even making a profit. But they had forgotten God; and by doing this, they had become arrogant, James declares.

When we stop to think for a moment, we should realize that no one knows what the future holds. People who often travel in cars, trains, or planes could be involved in accidents that will bring their lives to a sudden end. Bankruptcy comes even to the wealthiest of the land. The loss of health could cancel our plans indefinitely. Tomorrow someone will suffer a heart attack, or stroke, or learn that they have a malignancy, and only a few months to live. Even life, James avers, is but a vapor, meaning the shortness of it when you compare it to eternity. Let us not be guilty of ever thinking we are in control, but rather always remember what we shall do and be, if the Lord wills.