How can we prepare our lives for the future when we don’t know what the future holds?
Well we know that God has created life with rhythms we can normally count on. The world keeps spinning on its axis. The sun rises and sets. Gravity holds us to the earth. We breathe without thinking. Seasons come and go. Because of these God-ordained rhythms, or natural patterns we are able to make short-term and long-term plans—trusting that life will usually follow a predictable order. We also know that planning isn’t optional; it’s necessary.
For example:
? You can’t provide for your family without planning.
? You can’t finish school, get married, buy a home, or retire without planning.
? You can’t cultivate God-honoring friendships or a healthy marriage without intentional planning.
? You can’t get an entire family ready for worship in the spur of the moment.
? You can’t read through the Bible in a day, so you need a plan to read God’s Word (Psalm 119:105).
? You can’t be hospitable to all of your friends, family, and neighbors at once, so you need to make a plan to have them over.
? You can’t train your children in the way they should go in a week or a month or a year or even a decade, so you need to make a parenting plan (Proverbs 22:6).
? You can’t accidentally bring people to Jesus or make disciples of all nations without a long term plan (Matthew 28:19–20).
Preparation for the future begins with intentional planning today. As individuals, couples, families, and as a church, this is expected and a good thing. However according to the Bible there is another dimension that goes into planning.
Today we will be reading a passage from the book of James. Here we will see the importance of examining how we plan—and where our confidence lies.
Let’s read:
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, engage in business, and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:13–17 NASB).
What is James saying to us? As I mentioned, planning is vital but there is a difference between:
1. Planning vs Presumption
In vs. 13, James begins with the words, “Come now”—it’s a call for attention. He is addressing believers who continually said, “Today or tomorrow… we will… we will… we will.”
The problem was not in planning or making profits.
The problem is they presumptuously planned their ventures without God.
James is speaking to capable, educated, business-minded Christians. They knew the truth, yet they placed their confidence in their own strategies and presumed that would have lots of time and their ventures would be profitable. God was not invited into the planning and so it makes you wonder what their ultimate goal was. To have security and comfort in this life?
Seeking for God’s will may have been acknowledged in theory, but it was not central in practice. This mindset has been described as Christian atheism—professing belief in God while living as if what He has to say is irrelevant in daily decisions. In many cultures, you would never exclude your parents and community when making decisions, no matter how old you were. Sadly, in western culture we are taught to come up with the plan, forge our own paths, to direct our lives and future. It was William Ernest Henley who wrote and has been quoted ever since:
It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.
But Proverbs 3:5–6 directly confronts this mindset:
Trust and rely confidently on the LORD with all your heart, And do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways acknowledge and recognize Him, And He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way] (Prov 3:5-6 AMP).
To acknowledge (<yada) means more than awareness— it implies a deep, intimate, relational dependence on God. It means to actively invite God in all your ways: in your decision-making, ambitions, finances, career path, relationships, and conflicts. What God has to say in His Word is relevant for every area of my life.
When God is excluded, even good plans can become misdirected. James tells us why our confidence should never rest in our plans alone - because of the:
2. Frailty of Life James writes in v. 14,
You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow (James 4:14).
Life is uncertain. We are not promised tomorrow. Pearl and I and many in this room today have said goodbye to precious friends and family members this past year. James describes life as a vapor—visible for a moment, then gone. Scripture repeatedly echoes this truth. Our lives are but a mist, a shadow (Job 8:9), a breath (Psalm 39:11), a cloud, a fading flower.
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus talked about greed and told the story about a rich landowner who planned to tear down his barns so he could build bigger ones. He was prepared to live, but not to die. God called him a fool because he was rich toward himself but not rich in relation to God (Lk 12:16-21).
Jesus asks the ultimate question:
What does it benefit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:36)
Productivity is not the same as being personally prepared for eternity. Instead of thinking, “I have time” or that life will always go the way you planned James offers a:
3. Better Way - James writes in v. 15:
Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that’ (James 4:15).
This is not a formula to repeat but a posture of humility.
Lord refers to the Sovereign Creator who holds the universe in the span of His hand. Only He knows the beginning and the end of all things. Instead of saying “we will”, should we say “If the Lord wills.” Why? One the one hand we recognize that an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God controls the times and the seasons of our lives. On the other hand we are personally responsible for how we live and what we do with the time He has given us, even when life does not go the way we hoped. (Prov 27:1).
Proverbs 16:9 reminds us:The mind of a person plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.
We plan responsibly, but we submit these plans to God willingly. When they change—when doors close, when timelines shift, instead of living in despair we can trust that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). When it comes to making plans God wants us to place our hope and confidence in him, Why? Because “God has no record of failure!”
The Hebrew word hope (tiqvah) is first used as the word ‘rope’ (Joshua 2:18). It's a great picture - who or what do we tie ourselves to? That is where your hope is. If you tie yourselves to people or finances or circumstances getting better you will always be disappointed but if you tie yourself to God and wait on Him, you will never be disappointed. (Lots of rope burn/hope burn -healing)
I have had conversations with several people in our church who have good careers and are already established in life. But even though they have everything they need materially, they are keenly aware that there is more to life than financial security and comfort. They are asking God: What do you want to do with the skills, gifts, and resources you have given me? What do you want to do with the next years of my life? These people want God to be front and center in their lives, in their families, their workplace, friendships, and decision-making. This is being rich in relation to God. The opposite to being rich toward God is:
4. Self-Sufficiency - James is pretty blunt in v. 16:
You boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.
James is basically asking, “Why are you congratulating yourself as if the way you live is better, happier, more productive, and successful without God. Why are you placing your hope in yourselves? Think about what it is saying to the others in the church.” Paul wrote, “Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do”(Eph 5:17 NLT).
Verse 17 brings it home:
For one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin (James 4:17).
James is basically saying, “Now you know the will of God, it has been made clear to you. To live your life for any other purpose or anything less than that which God has created you for, is sin.” In other words, you are aiming at the wrong target. You’ve tied yourself to a sinking ship.
Looking Ahead: Challenge for 2026
As we look toward 2026, the question is not whether we will make plans—but how we will make them. What steps can we take?
1. Put God first
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
2. Plan prayerfully
Before setting goals, ask: “Lord, what do You want to do in and through my life this year?” (Psalm 37:5-6)
3. Live with eternity in mind
Success is not measured by wealth or achievement, but by taking what God has given us and using it for His glory (Luke 19:15-19). Be rich toward God.
4. Practice daily dependence
1 Cor 2:5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of people, but on the power of God.
5. Invest in the future by investing in people's lives today
6. Let your faith be known not by words alone (I Thess 1:6-9)
7. Hold your plans with open hands
Be available and flexible when God redirects your path (Isaiah 55:8–9).
8. Put your hope in Jesus Christ the anchor of your soul!
So, let’s plan wisely and live each day humbly.
In 2025, we asked God that, as a church, we would be salt and light and together with other churches here in Vienna we prayed for Austria, we evangelized together, did a Jesus March in the first district, and had an amazing Game night to welcome expats to Vienna. We created events around Easter, the summer months, Thanksgiving, and Christmas to invite people to whom we could share God’s love and life.
We prayed, made plans by faith and had no idea how things would go but as we committed them to the Lord, He was faithful to bring them to pass in only ways He could accomplish. As different ones have given their personal testimonies of God’s faithfulness, I believe we can all think of ways we have experienced God’s faithfulness in 2025. For some of us the year flew by in a blur but if we all personally take time to reflect on the things the Lord did for us and as a church I think we’d be amazed. In Psalm 136, it’s written 26 times in the 26 verses, “For His faithfulness is everlasting.”
Now as we look to the year 2026, we don’t want just to fill the calendar with more travel, more events, more ventures for our own benefit like Christian atheists. We want to examine how we plan and why. We want to enter the new year with eternal viewpoint - understanding that everything we do on the earth has eternal consequences. It means living in the now with readiness and preparedness for eternity.
