James 4:13 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”— 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
How many decisions do we make everyday? We probably make at least a thousand a day, from where we want to eat, to major life decisions. In these scriptures God is giving us just a small taste of how presumptuous and arrogant we are in assuming. Immediately when we get up in the morning our mind starts making decision, what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, which way to travel to work, who’s going to get the kids, what about lunch, and on and on. Ironically, we can go through a whole day and never stop and ask God about his will, or his direction. We just go through the day assuming it is ours to do with as we please. According to the scriptures above this is a huge mistake because only God knows if we will be here the next hour, or the next minute. Every second people’s lives are changing. One minute your life is going great, but then it is rocked by cancer, loss of a job, or it may be good news but comes with a hard decision. My point is instantly your whole life can change in a second, and you never knew it was coming.
When we leave God out of the equation; we leave out our map and his grace. You see God has mapped out our life as he sees fit. Our job is to try to stay in the center of his will and not wonder off the path. Tim Tebow quotes “People often seem to think that when you're following the Lord and trying to do His will, your path will always be clear, the decisions smooth and easy, and life will be lived happily ever after and all that. Sometimes that may be true, but I've found that more often, it's not. The muddled decisions still seem muddled, bad things still happen to believers, and great things can happen to nonbelievers. When it comes to making our decisions, the key that God is concerned with is that we are trusting and seeking Him. God's desire is for us to align our lives with His Word and His will.” ― Tim Tebow, Through My Eyes
The thing I am learning more and more about God is that his timing is not our timing, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Sometimes it is so hard to seek God in every detail of our life, but it is a necessity. When we follow God he gives us grace to do whatever he has asked us to do. If we are on our own path, we do not necessarily have the same grace. I love how Henry Blackaby puts it, “When you seek to perform what God has asked you to do, you will always find enough grace to sustain you. If you begin to loose heart in what God ask you to do, God’s grace upholds you and gives you the love for God and his people you require to continue. When you face criticism; God’s grace allows you to forgive others and to sense God’s pleasure even when others do not understand. When you make mistakes in your task, God’s grace forgives you, sets you back on your feet, and gives you strength to continue. When you have completed God’s task and no one expresses thanks for what you have done, the Father’s grace surrounds you, and reminds you that you have a heavenly reward. God does not promise to provide all you need for you dreams and projects. He does assure you that, for every good work you attempt, you will never experience a shortfall of his grace in order to successfully complete the task he has given you”
2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
I cannot imagine my day without God's grace. Let us remind our self not to boast in ourselves, and what we think we can accomplish, but in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is always sufficient.
How many decisions do we make everyday? We probably make at least a thousand a day, from where we want to eat, to major life decisions. In these scriptures God is giving us just a small taste of how presumptuous and arrogant we are in assuming. Immediately when we get up in the morning our mind starts making decision, what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, which way to travel to work, who’s going to get the kids, what about lunch, and on and on. Ironically, we can go through a whole day and never stop and ask God about his will, or his direction. We just go through the day assuming it is ours to do with as we please. According to the scriptures above this is a huge mistake because only God knows if we will be here the next hour, or the next minute. Every second people’s lives are changing. One minute your life is going great, but then it is rocked by cancer, loss of a job, or it may be good news but comes with a hard decision. My point is instantly your whole life can change in a second, and you never knew it was coming.
When we leave God out of the equation; we leave out our map and his grace. You see God has mapped out our life as he sees fit. Our job is to try to stay in the center of his will and not wonder off the path. Tim Tebow quotes “People often seem to think that when you're following the Lord and trying to do His will, your path will always be clear, the decisions smooth and easy, and life will be lived happily ever after and all that. Sometimes that may be true, but I've found that more often, it's not. The muddled decisions still seem muddled, bad things still happen to believers, and great things can happen to nonbelievers. When it comes to making our decisions, the key that God is concerned with is that we are trusting and seeking Him. God's desire is for us to align our lives with His Word and His will.” ― Tim Tebow, Through My Eyes
The thing I am learning more and more about God is that his timing is not our timing, and his thoughts are not our thoughts. Sometimes it is so hard to seek God in every detail of our life, but it is a necessity. When we follow God he gives us grace to do whatever he has asked us to do. If we are on our own path, we do not necessarily have the same grace. I love how Henry Blackaby puts it, “When you seek to perform what God has asked you to do, you will always find enough grace to sustain you. If you begin to loose heart in what God ask you to do, God’s grace upholds you and gives you the love for God and his people you require to continue. When you face criticism; God’s grace allows you to forgive others and to sense God’s pleasure even when others do not understand. When you make mistakes in your task, God’s grace forgives you, sets you back on your feet, and gives you strength to continue. When you have completed God’s task and no one expresses thanks for what you have done, the Father’s grace surrounds you, and reminds you that you have a heavenly reward. God does not promise to provide all you need for you dreams and projects. He does assure you that, for every good work you attempt, you will never experience a shortfall of his grace in order to successfully complete the task he has given you”
2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
I cannot imagine my day without God's grace. Let us remind our self not to boast in ourselves, and what we think we can accomplish, but in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is always sufficient.
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