by Ronnie Hewitt

“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.’” (Jas 4:13-15)

A New Year always affords us the opportunity to feel as if we can start afresh. As we make plans for our lives, it is important that we remember to never, never, never leave God out of our life’s plans. Life’s plans sometimes collapse against the uncertainty of the future. We do not know what tomorrow may bring, and to foolishly pretend that we are in control of the direction our lives will take is courting disaster. We are only in control of the responses we make to events, but very often not in control of the events themselves.

We must recognize that true happiness and useful living in the Kingdom are completely dependent on God. The principle by which we live must be, “If the Lord wills.” Our prayer is truly, “May your will be done” (cf. Matt 26:42).

In saying that, we ought to have a keen concept of the Lord’s purpose in our lives. That purpose should be our rock and confidence; because, we know that whatever the future holds, expected or unexpected, there is Someone upon whom we can depend.

Now I don’t about you, but for me, that is a great source of comfort and joy in all of life’s circumstances.

So, remember, when making goals and plans, believers must always consider God and His will. We must never allow ourselves the “luxury” of leaving God out of our plans (in truth, such a “luxury” is a curse).