Boast Not of the Morrow

I tend to feel a little bit uneasy whenever I hear someone talking about their big plans and where they are going to be with their worldly state in time to come, especially when it is a child of God doing the talking. First of all this kind of dialogue tells me that the person doing the talking is carnally minded, and the scripture plainly says, “For to be carnally minded is death” (Rom. 8:6). Someone who has their thinking subjected to the Spirit of God is not making big plans for their future in this world, but rather they are minded of their future beyond their future in this life. And by putting their priority on “seeking first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness,” they “confess that they [are] strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Mat. 6:33; Heb. 11:15). We simply are not confessing that we are strangers and pilgrims in the earth when we boast of our big plans for our worldly future. But contrarily we confess that we are in the number of whom the scripture says, “For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh” (Rom. 8:5). And we surely confess a lack of the fear of God when we act like we are assured of even being alive in the time to come of which we speak: “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil” (Jas. 4:13-16). People who have all of these vain plans calculated and assured in their minds about their future in this world should hear the wise words of the Psalmist: “LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am” (Psm. 39:4). When the fear of the Lord is in a person’s heart, it restrains them from speaking of things that they do not have actual knowledge of, such as what we will have or not have in this life, in time to come; or even if we will BE here in time to come. In fact, in the Bible that kind of mindset is attributed to the wicked: “Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever” (Psm. 49:11). Someone with this mindset may say that that isn't how they think, but give them space to talk some more and they will prove otherwise.

Someone may say of my writing of these things, “Oh he’s being a little bit extreme; after all God knows we have to live.” Yeah? So what would Jesus say about it? Well, how about what DID Jesus say about it? “And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Lk. 12:16-21). Do you know what he said directly after telling this parable? “And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? … And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Lk. 12:22-24,29-31). So there is no doubt that the point I am making is in absolute agreement with the words and mind of Jesus. And there is only one way to correct the kind of faulty, worldly thinking and speaking that I’ve described here: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (Jas. 4:8). Like everything else that matters in life, it has to happen heart first. When the heart is made pure and free from the love of this world, the mouth will not speak foolish, boastful words about our future in this life, as if we actually know what lies ahead. Because the following words of Jesus pertain to an unbreakable spiritual law and principle that rules us all: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mat. 12:34). Also Jesus followed the statement of that unbreakable law with another saying that will prove unbreakable as well: “For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Mat. 12:37). Amen.