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* Planning ahead seems to be the way to drive the whole society forward nowadays.
* Man is by nature “time conscious being”, and we naturally think ahead.
* Yet, we are also morally liable to God for the way you plan for our future.
E.g. The Rich Fool parable
* Most often, before a person does evil, he already plans evil.
<Micah 2:1>: “Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it”.
* Yet, there are also those who did not do what they ought to do, because they simply DIDN’T PLAN to do it.
<James 4:13-17>
13 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.” 14 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. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
We are culpable for our wrong plans
1) We are eternal beings who live a short while to determine our eternal outcomes.
E.g. Lot, Jacob…
* <Mat 6:33>: But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
* <Job 14:14>: If someone dies, will they live again?
2) We don’t have much time
* Positive note: Every moment of our life is extremely valuable.
* Negative note: We could be gone the next moment.
<Mat 7:13>: For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
Spurgeon says: “There are a thousand gates to death”.
How should we make plans for our lives?
1) Humility is Key
* <James 4:15>: If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.
* Planning our lives independent of God is sheer arrogance.
* Our plans fail because of moral issue, not intellectual issue.
2) Critical to PLAN to do the good which we know we ought to
* <James 4:17> If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them.
3) Plan for eternity
* <James 5:2-3>: Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days.
* <Eph 4:1>: … I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
