James 4:13-16 “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.’ As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.”
Are my plans saturated in prayer and shaped by seeking God’s guidance? Or do I work things out by myself, without asking God what he wants? Do I communicate my plans for the future with humility, or in a way that exalts myself and feeds my ego? Recognizing the fragility and brevity of my life is essential if I want to live in a way that pleases God and produces lasting value. When I step back from the urgency of my plans and think about eternity, I am finally in a place where I can hear and follow God’s leading.
Father, I am yours. Guide me wherever you want, to whomever you have prepared for me to serve. May my day today and every day be for your glory and not my own. At work, please guide me so that my plans are not merely the result of my own best thinking, but so they are anointed by you and infused with your purposes and perfect wisdom.