A L M A C I A S

A LIFE WITHOUT GOD

Have you ever stopped to think how your life might have turned out if you had made different decisions? What if you had married someone other than the person that you did marry, or what if you had studied and prepared yourself for a very different kind of work than that which you are now doing. What if you and your mate had never had children ­ how would life be? There are so many "ifs" in life that it is not profitable to be thinking on those things, especially since they are in the past. Just as it is not profitable to think of the "what-ifs," it is also unprofitable to make all sorts of plans without including God in them. In James 4:13-17, we have some instruction as to what God expects from all of us while we journey through this life on earth. In this passage we read, "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow 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. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

What seemed to have been the problem of those who James was addressing here? And what did James say to these people of his day, as well as to us in regard to this problem? The problem here was that there were some who were making all sorts of plans without including God. Somehow they had forgotten that it is God who is in control of most things, including what we might be able to do or not do in the future. There were many who had made plans to be in certain places for a certain period of time, doing business in a certain city, and even making a profit. What had these people forgotten? First of all, they had forgotten God; and by doing this, they had become arrogant. When you stop to think for a moment, it does not take a genius to know that no one knows what the future holds. The people who often travel in cars, trains, or planes could be involved in accidents that will bring their lives to a sudden end. Bankruptcy comes even to the most wealthy of the land. The loss of health could cancel our plans indefinitely. What if tomorrow you or I suffer a heart attack, or a stroke, or we learn that we have a malignancy, and have only a few months to live? Even life, James says, is but a vapour, meaning the shortness of it when you compare it to eternity. Therefore, let us not be guilty of ever thinking we are in control, but rather always remember that we shall do and be, if the Lord wills.