Do Not Boast About Tomorrow

“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

If there is any proof that the plans we make for ourselves can be thwarted, it has been these last two years. Plans I had went awry, and I am certain yours did, too. Intended travel was canceled or postponed, some jobs were lost, loved ones were lost as well. Something as disruptive as the pandemic is proof that none of us are in control of the circumstances of our lives, and we are not in control of most things.

James tells his audience, amid talking about things like controlling your tongue and not quarrelling with one another, to also be careful about how we conceptualize the plans we make for ourselves. He warns us against saying something as common as, “I’m going to move to this town for a year and make a profit,” because it is evil and arrogant to say such a thing. That might be shocking to all of us, to think of plan-making as arrogant and evil, and I think James intends for it to be shocking. He wants us to think about what we’re actually saying and communicating, even when it comes to very common things we say.

So what is the arrogance and evil in making plans for your career? It is not in the making of plans, but in the mindset that you are the one in control of your future. James warns his readers, “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.” We can intend all sorts of things for our life, but we are not in control of many things. This includes the changing circumstances of the world and also our very lives. To believe that we are in control of the events of the world, or that we are owed the world to work as we believe it should, is the arrogance that James is warning against. It is the putting of our preferences above the decisions and choices of God. That is why James says to instead say, “If the Lord wills, we will do this and that.”

Now, James isn’t giving us some magic formula or incantation, like we have to say those exact words every time we speak of the future. He’s telling us to make sure to leave space in our plans for the will and work of God. We know that we ought to submit ourselves to the will of God as Christians, this includes the making of plans, but also remembering our place within creation. We are but mist, as James says, or another way, as Isaiah declares, “All flesh is grass… the grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass” (40:6-8).

This is not to say that we should refrain from making plans for the future, but that we should allow room for the will of God within those plans. The book of Ecclesiastes provides much wisdom in this regard: “Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what disaster may happen on earth” (11:1-2). The idea being conveyed here is similar to the English proverb, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” We might even call this “investment diversification.” We don’t know what investments or endeavors (our bread) might prove to be profitable (finding it after many days), because circumstances lay outside of our control. Later on, the Preacher implores, “in the morning sow your seed, and at the evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). This is another way to act and live humbly with the life God has given us. It is not within our control to determine which endeavors or investments we make will prosper. That is within the purview of God. One of the ways we can show we are placing our trust in the will of God is by diversifying what we have been given, to not, in a sense, “bet it all on black because we might have a hunch” but to rather leave our hunches behind and let God be in control and choose what will or will not prosper.

If the Lord wills, some of our investments won’t pay off. If the Lord wills, today may be our last day on this earth. If the Lord wills, there may be an event on the earth that prevents us from doing what we had originally planned to do. We need to be prepared for the will of God and also to humbly submit ourselves to that will. To do otherwise would be to boast in our arrogance, and all such boasting is evil. Let us rather do what is right in the sight of God.