My Way? God’s Way!
James 4:13-17
As Christians all we have and all we are belong to God and it’s that truth that underpins what, why and how we live life. All of which place God’s purposes and mission as our priority, all of which place our confidence in him and him alone.
The converse of that is presumption; the assumption that my time and my resources are mine and I am the master of my own life. When we have that mindset, we are encouraged to remember we are not our own, were bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:19).
It was this presumption that James addressed in chapter 4 speaking to a group of people whose plans & priorities simply didn’t put God and others first. He says: What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes….Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”
James’ teaching does not mean that making plans is wrong, “He is not arguing against the making of money, he is not opposing life insurance, travel plans or retirements funds…rather what he is speaking to, is the attitude that I am able to control my own outcomes through the plans I make.
It is vital to our discipleship we develop the perspective that all we have belongs to God, and all we do is driven by what are his priorities for us. A simple framework to apply James teaching is by asking these 3 questions:
* Will this love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength? God’s way will (always) seek him and love him first.
* Will it love others? Gods way will love others.
* Can I fulfill the Great Commission (see Matt. 28)? God’s way will fulfill the Great Commission.
The Lord wants us to make plans, however let’s plan according to our best understanding of biblical truths and principles applied to our circumstances as we best understand them, plan in a manner that put’s his mission first.
Contributed by Ross Woodhouse
