by Steven Chan
13 February 2011
Many people live their lives without any consideration for God’s will. In James 4:13-15, the Bible warns against making plans without taking into account God’s will:
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
The afore-stated verse reminds us of the uncertainty that awaits us in the future and that our life is like a vapour and is for a little time only. We will not live on earth forever. So, we ought not to live as if we will always have tomorrow.
Luke 12:16-21 records the account of a rich man who
thought that he had a long time to enjoy his life not knowing or failing to realize that God was going to call him back that very night – just when he had successfully accumulated all his wealth and was starting to relax and enjoy his life of abundance.
James reminds us that we must always acknowledge the over-riding will of God and plan our lives accordingly.
The Bible records in Prov 16:1-3 thus: “The preparations of the heart belong to man, But the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits. Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established.”
Given the uncertainty of our lives, in John 9:4 Jesus said: “I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.” There is a time to work and a time when we would not be able to work. So, while it is day or there’s yet available time, we must resolve to do God’s works before it becomes too late for us to do His will.
In John 12:35 Jesus said that “he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.” Do we know where we are going? In John 14:1-6, Jesus assured us: “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Jesus came from heaven and has returned to heaven to prepare a place for us; He knows the way to heaven because He came from there and He has paid the price for us to be able to enter into heaven. Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 1 Peter 2:24-25: Jesus “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
We need to do God’s will so that heaven will be our final destiny: Matt 7:21: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
