January 5, 2025
Adrian Rogers
Scripture Passage: James 4:13-17
We are a people obsessed with the future; we consume the news, looking for what’s in store for us. The only way we can face the future is accepting that God is the only one who knows it.
James 4:13-17 gives an example of a businessman with some very big plans. He knew exactly where he was going, how to get there and how to succeed...at least he thought so.
If we can learn from the three mistakes he made, we can better face the future as individuals, families, and churches.
He has planned out everything: his time frame, the place, his procedure, even the profits he would make. But not once did He seek any guidance from the Lord, or show any reverence toward Almighty God. He didn’t take God into consideration at all.
Adrian Rogers says, “The biggest fool is not the man who says there is no God. There’s yet a bigger fool: the man who says there is a God, and doesn’t live like it.”
We must not forget that God has a plan for each of us. How tragic it would be to miss it because we have made idols out of our own plans. We must get sin and stubbornness out of our lives and listen for His voice.
We have been grace sufficient for today’s load, not tomorrow’s, for a reason. This passage calls life a vapor (James 4:14): it appears for a little while and then vanishes.
We never know when our time is up; today could quite possibly be our last. God alone determines our days.
“Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
You can do wrong by doing wrong, and you can also do wrong by not doing right.
Adrian Rogers says, “The sins of omission are greater than the sins of commission.”
The way to face the future is to bring God into our planning, live one day at a time, and obey God daily, step-by-step.
Have you made some grand plans without the counsel of Almighty God? Ask Him what He would have you do. And worship Him through your obedience.
