James 4:13-17 Go to now, you 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:… The life of the savage is characterized by an almost total lack of true foresight; no calculations of the future. True civilization, on the contrary, is largely built up on the principle of far-seeing prudence. Yet there may be a false use of a true principle. And so it may come to pass that we manifest an unchristian reliance on the future, and an absorbed engrossment in plans for its direction. It is this which James condemns, He sets forth the false glorying, and, over against the false, the true. I. THE FALSE GLORYING. 1. A false love of the world. "Trade, and get gain." So the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:16-21). And the essence of such sinful worldliness is this: "Layeth up treasure for himself. But the gains on which men's hearts are set may be other than these material ones: position, power, fame, intellectual achievements. It matters not what they are, if they be sought covetously and selfishly, they come under the condemnation era false love of the world. 2. A false view of life. Spend a year there." So the parable, as above. Really? (1) The transiency of life in itself. "A vapor." As compared with the ages of history. How that dwindles our little day! As compared with the life of God (Psalm 90:4; Psalm 39:5). (2) The permanence of its spiritual results: left for inference, how immensely important every moment now! So Psalm 90:12; Psalm 39:13. The glorying is evil, then, whether of speech or of heart. For the principle is not one of words. A man may talk piously of the brevity of life and of the will of God, while really his heart is as essentially worldly as that of the man who makes no pretensions to better things. II. THE TRUE GLORYING. So also the contrasted glorying, "If the Lord will," etc., is not one of words - " D.V.," and the like. Use of words not unimportant as regards practical results; but it is really the attitude of the heart which God regards, and which constitutes us what we are. So, then, "he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:31). 1. A trite view of life. "If the Lord will, we shall live." (1) His governance of human vicissitudes: "The Lord reigneth." Fate, chance, human willfulness - all governed by his will. (2) His regard for human destiny: educating us. That mighty future, shall we be made ready for it? Yes; for "he that spared not," etc. (Romans 8:32). 2. A true love of the world. "Do this or that." A living will runs through all these things, and it is given to us to blend our wills with it, and so help to work out God's design. "If on our daily course our mind Be set to hallow all we find-" that is the secret of a true, a godly love of the world. We have knowledge of these things, for we have "tasted the powers of the world to come" (Hebrews 6:5). Therefore, what shall be our sin, if still our glorying is in the world (see John 9:41)? Oh, to us, as from heaven, the warning comes: "Ye Christians, arouse yourselves, and live for heaven and God!" - T.F.L. Parallel Verses KJV: 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: |
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