03 February 2013
Steve Grant
Series on The Epistle of James
James 4:13-17

GOD’S PLANS OR MY PLANS?

The arrogance of the culture in our day seems to be rubbing off more and more onto those within the church. There are an increasing number of those who profess to follow Christ, but actually follow the schedules and timeframes that they have set for themselves. This is not to say that plan-making is a bad thing in and of itself; it isn’t. The problem is verse 15; when we leave God out of our plan-making. When we fail to recognise and acknowledge His sovereignty over our lives. And this is exactly what James is addressing in this passage.

What’s more, when we start to unpack this idea and apply it to our lives, we soon realise that we’re often guilty of relegating God’s sovereignty to matters of faith, religion and morality. But when it comes to more ‘secular’ issues, we want to take over the wheel of our lives. If this is true of us as Christians, we need to seriously rethink whether we really believe in God’s sovereignty or whether we just pay lip service to it.

Reason being, in the grand scheme of things, we’re just a vapour. But if we’re getting all puffed up with self-importance, then we need to heed James’ call to stop and take a reality check in the light of God’s sovereignty.