Proverbs 27.1
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”
Scripture reminds us to have a wise and humble view of time. We must wisely make the most of the time we have, and we must humbly recognize that the future is not guaranteed. The NT book of James addresses this very topic.
“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.’” (James 4.13-15)
James is confronting an arrogant spirit that he was observing among the churches. They were setting goals and making plans without taking into account God’s sovereignty and their own limitations.
They had an attitude of entitlement and presumption. Like the prosperous man in Jesus’ parable, they were saying, “I’ll build bigger barns to store my goods,” and “I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’” “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’” (Luke 12:19-20).
Proverbs does not say we shouldn’t plan, and neither does James. We must set goals, develop plans, and work hard every day to execute those plans. But we must do so with a kingdom mindset. This means a heart of humility, and the recognition that God is sovereign and we are finite. With a clear understanding of who God is and who we are in relationship to God.
Here is the mindset we should bring to our plans and daily work:
1) Acknowledge that God is sovereign. Proverbs would call this “the fear of the Lord.” Everything that happens is under God’s sovereignty and subject to his will. Whatever goals we set and plans we make, we must give priority to God’s sovereignty. God has given us the ability to choose, and our choices have consequences. At the same time, God is sovereign. To think otherwise is to deny God’s existence, or to disregard his authority, and thereby elevate ourselves above God.
2) Acknowledging God’s sovereignty means doing our daily work with God’s purposes in mind. Whatever goals we set and plans we make, we must give priority to God’s purposes and principles. We must align our plans with God’s purposes.
3) We must keep in mind the brevity of life. James says that our life is “like a mist.” You see a mist at one moment, and a few moments later it’s gone. You see the steam coming from your cup of coffee, and a few minutes later it disappears into the air. Life is like that.
4) Given the brevity of life, we must remember that nothing is guaranteed; we do not know what tomorrow will bring. The only thing guaranteed is right now, and that is a gift from God. Our task is to make the most of today as ambassadors for Christ.
5) Since life is short, we must seek wisdom from God in order to invest our time wisely and make our life count. In Psalm 90, Moses laments the brevity of life. He compares life to the grass of the field that sprouts in the morning and by evening has faded under the hot sun. Therefore he prays “Teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” We have a fixed number of days to live and work on earth, and only God can give us the wisdom we need to invest those days profitably.
Life can change fast. The only day you have available to you is today. The only moment you have available to you is this moment, right now. Stay focused and make the most of the days and the moments that God gives you, because there is no guarantee about tomorrow. And you have a fixed number of days in your life. Therefore, in all that you do, honor God’s authority and align your plans with his purposes.
