they drive an automobile. Their true personalities seem to come to light. Likewise the matter of striv ing for status or recognition, wheth er it be in the social or economic world, should cause us concern. We must be very careful that we do not trace these things to pride and selfishness. Pride is a sad thing to consider. Some people refuse help because they are too proud to admit their needs. James has something to say about Christians who go their merry way without giving due con sideration to their dependency up on the Lord (4:13-14). It is possible to sin against the Lord by planning your life as if God did not even exist. Some people will profess to be servants of the Lord, but in practice they often deny and ig nore God. Opportunities to be come prosperous become suffici ent enticements to forsake the will of God for our own purposes. James is not condemning people for making money. The problem is the danger of making such worldly service our prime goal in life. James is impatient with such self- contained people who think they can manage all their affairs apart from God's help. Such Christians are no different from worldlings who do not even know the Lord at all. This indicates the heighth of egotism and smugness. Planning without God is really foolish. We can ascertain the future with any degree of certainty? No one can predict his situation tomorrow. Ev erything about us is passing and transitory. Who knows what will transpire in the future? What is your life anyway? James says it is like steam coming out of a tea
kettle. It is there for just a little while and then vanishes away into the atmosphere. There are so many unforeseen and uncontrollable var iables which enter the picture. Verses 15 to 17 intensely urge the believer to plan with God. Christian people should lay their goals carefully and prayerfully, without neglecting God's directions and perfect will in all human ar rangements. This calls for a total submission to God's leading for each step we take. Our Saviour set the pattern as He prayed, “ Not my will, but Thine be done." On the other side is sinful pride which reckons itself as fully ade quate for any eventuality. It lives independently of God. As a final insult to the Lord it glories in it self. Committing these sins is bad enough, but rejoicing and revelling in them, as James points out, is the crowning act of sinful pride (vrs. 6). According to vrs. 17 sins of omission are just as bad as sins of commission. In our failure to do good we miss God's standard of righteousness. This comes either by practicing evil or by neglecting to do good. James then points out that fail ure to act according to knowledge is sin (4:15-17). One of the most grevious offenses is failure to walk in the light of God's knowledge. By the Apostle's definition of sin not a single Christian can boast of faultlessness. Since we are all im perfect how do we dare single out imperfections in others? We have no right to hold them up for ridi cule when these things are true in our own life. We should begin by criticizing ourselves (I Corinthians 11:31, Galatians 6:1). Leaving God out of our plans is indicative of a Page 39
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