Theme: COMMENTARY ON JAMES CHAPTERS 3 - 5
Text: “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.”” – James 4:13.
Comment: Many people make the mistake of making plans for the future without reckoning that they do not own their lives: they may be dead before the day they scheduled to hold one assignment or the other. Hence, the text is followed by an observation, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. What is your life? For ye are a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.?” (James 4:14) It was Solomon the prophet who advised us, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1) In the words of Apostle James, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall both live, and do this or that.” James 4:15.
In the parable of the rich fool, our Lord Jesus Christ spoke of a rich man whose ground brought forth plentifully to the extent that his barns could not take all the produce. He then decided to build a bigger barn so that he would just be enjoying himself. Because he was making plans without seeking the help of God to keep him alive for the future, “…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?” – Luke 12:15-21.