"LOOK HERE YOU PEOPLE WHO SAY, "TODAY OR TOMORROW WE ARE GOING TO A CERTAIN TOWN AND WILL STAY THERE A YEAR. WE WILL DO BUSINESS THERE AND MAKE A PROFIT." HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TOMORROW? FOR YOUR LIFE IS LIKE THE MORNING FOG - IT'S HERE A LITTLE WHILE, THEN IT IS GONE. WHAT YOU OUGHT TO SAY IS, "IF THE LORD WANTS US TO, WE WILL LIVE AND DO THIS AND THAT." OTHERWISE YOU WILL BE BOASTING ABOUT YOUR OWN PLANS, AND ALL SUCH BOASTING IS EVIL. REMEBER, IT IS SIN TO KNOW WHAT YOU OUGHT TO DO AND THEN NOT TO DO IT." JAMES 4:13-17

How seriously does God regard the vows we make? James says that we are not even to make our own plans without regard to the Lord’s will because such planning is considered by God to be boasting. When we leave God out of the equation we are saying, “MY plans are to do this or that and I am strong enough to control my own destiny!” Of course not a one of us can say what God will have us do tomorrow or today or even within the next hour. The Word tells us “WE CAN MAKE OUR PLANS, BUT THE LORD DETERMINES OUR STEPS” PROVERB 16:9

The truth is we ought to say, "IF THE LORD WANTS US TO"; We do not have the assurance of life beyond this present breath; a time has been appointed for the next breath to be our last and only God can determine when that will be. We must not assume that we can make any promise without considering that God may have another plan for us.

If God looks so critically at what we intend to do and do not accomplish because His will overrides our own, how critical is God of us when we make a vow and then willingly choose to break it? We make a covenant of Church membership or of marriage or just the promise to cut the neighbor’s lawn or to visit the sick or the poor and for whatever reason less than God’s own intervention we break those covenants and promises; what must God think of those transgressions? It is sin to know what you will do and not do it, let alone to promise it. How carelessly we break God’s heart when our own lives do not reflect His faithfulness.

Look here, you people who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." How do you know what will happen tomorrow? For your life is like the morning fog--it's here a little while, then it's gone. What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." Otherwise you will be boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. AMEN!