GPS Guide – November 30, 2018

HOLY INTERRUPTION

Friday

Read: James 4:13-17

“Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. 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.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.  If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.”  (NIV James 4:13-17)

Study: Even in a world without smart phones or tablet computers, James was aware that many people believed their own plans and schedules meant that they were fully in control of their own lives. Often it takes interruptions, illnesses or other kinds of life challenges to puncture that illusion of control, and remind us that God, not us, ultimately is the king of our world and our lives. James was blunt in verse 14: “You don‘t really know about tomorrow” Do you find it easy or difficult to accept the self-evident truth of those words? What are some of the main ways that you try to know about (and to control) tomorrow? How can you plan wisely if you accept the reality that unexpected developments can undo even the most carefully laid plans?

 Prayer: Lord God, I want to be a good and faithful steward of your gifts to me, and at times that takes some planning. But I also want to trust my future to your wisdom and love, which are so much greater than mine.  Amen