I was doing a super quick-read devotional on my phone today. Just going through the motions not really expecting to get anything profound. Within the first few verses of the scripture I was reading I was engrossed. Completely captivated by how the Word of God once again made me realize how absurdly ignorant I am. Allow me to share a few;
James 4:13-17
“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”
Proverbs 27:1
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring”
W H O A
This hit me hard, like a full blown Mike Tyson punch to the face. I’ve been preparing and raising money for the World Race. I’ve been telling people “Yeah I leave in six months!” or “Training camp is in October!” even a simple ” I’m getting breakfast with so and so on Thursday”. The brutal reality of those simple statements is that I may not be doing any of those things. Because while we are beloved children of God and He holds us in his right hand and He promises us so many things…Tomorrow is not one of them. Launching in six months from now isn’t one of them. Thursday morning with my homegirl Becky isn’t one of them. However, He does promise to unconditionally love us, to give us strength in times of weakness, He promises that our life (while we have it) has a purpose, He promises the fruits of the Spirit, He promises to be faithful and just, to forgive us of our sins, to purify us from unrighteousness, He promises eternal life through Jesus Christ;
But He does not promise tomorrow.
So why do we boast about tomorrow? Why do we have the audacity to act like we’re in on God’s plan for our lives? Do YOU know how long you’re gonna be on this earth?? Because I sure as heck don’t. The answer is simple. Its because we’re naive. I’m speaking for myself alone when I say these things. I’m naive and highly arrogant to believe that I can even begin to fathom the Lord’s plan for my life. While these scriptures not only heart checked me, they really challenged me on the way I speak and the words I choose. Are my words true? Are my words kind and righteous? Do my words hold an abundance of grace and mercy? I’m a speaking out of my flesh or my spirit? If I’m being real here, my answer isn’t the right answer to those questions all of the time. I think it’s humorous how I thought I wouldn’t get anything from today’s certain scripture and ended up with a heart check, a character check, and a new blog post! Thanks God! But in all seriousness, the Lord knows what we need and when we need it. I’ve been struggling with different things this last week and a lot of it has to do with God’s will on my life. But instead of taking it to Him and asking him to show me what he wants me to do, I pushed it aside and let life get busy so I really wouldn’t have to deal with it. I know someone out there can relate to that. But in true God-like fashion, He called me out, in the back room of my workplace and made me realize that I’m taking on a task that wasn’t mine to take. I was boasting about a life that I had no right to talk about and I was putting my grubby grimy hands all over his perfectly crafted design on my life.
I wrote down “I Will Boast In Christ” in my phone after reading these scriptures and the sweet devotional that followed. I made a promise to God and to myself to be more mindful of my words and to always revert them back to His will and glory, to be more aware of what God is asking of me today instead of assuming what I’ll be doing tomorrow, and to be willing to hand over whatever He’s perfectly placed in my hands so that I don’t have the audacity to try and handle it on my own. We all have a purpose and a calling in this crazy life that we’ve been given. Some people have that figured out (you go glenn coco!) and some people, like me, don’t. I’m the type of person who flies by the seat of her pants and just wings it whenever possible. My life motto is genuinely “Fake it till you make it”. Honestly, it’s something that I genuinely enjoy about myself (mainly because it stresses out all of my type A friends). But lately I’ve been trying to plan and schedule and its been blowing up in my face. I think the Lord is asking me to embrace that tomorrow isn’t promised and to value the today that is right in front of me. That today really truly matters, and that tomorrow can wait. The people I love, the nonchalant devotional’s I read, the words I speak all matter today. Take full advantage of the life you’ve been given, the people you’ve been given to care for, and the environment you’ve been given to better, the darkness you’ve been given to bring light to. Tomorrow isn’t promised, so let us boast in Christ and his redemptive love and grander plan for our lives today!
Father, thank you for reminding me that your will is always greater than my dismal plans and that tomorrow isn’t promised. So that I can better appreciate the today that I have in front of me. Allow me to be more aware of my words and correct me when I’m being arrogant in thinking I know what’s to come. Thank you for the blessings you’ve given me and allow this blog to bring you glory. I ask all of these things in the name of Jesus,
Amen
As always thank you for taking time out of your day to read the ramblings of a crazy woman. I hope this finds you happy, healthy, and on the cusp of an exciting new adventure 🙂
xo-Marge
