June 25, 2017 (Proverbs 27:1)

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Prov 27:1). After forty years of medical practice as an oncologist, it would be futile to attempt to recall the number of times this proverb was witnessed. Many were the times when a given person’s plans were abruptly interrupted if not ended with the diagnosis of ‘cancer.’ It is a nearly universal human failing to assume much of anything regarding tomorrows. There is a single focus which God intends to occupy top priority, and that is to live in such a way as to be ready for the Lord’s return, for we know not the hour. Those who have consecrated their lives to the lordship of Jesus Christ live neither as captives to what took place in their past nor are bound down by future expectations. Instead, they rejoice in daily relationship with the Lord and live daily by faith as expressed by obedience to leading of the indwelling Spirit. Scripture speaks of entering a “rest” found in Christ, yet it is my experience many a believer does not experience such rest. To the contrary, there is anxiety if not palpable fear about what tomorrow may possibly bring. The words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 6:34) to not worry about tomorrow (“Take therefore no thought for the morrow”KJV) are given lip service rather than practice. And the same applies to boasting if not more so, as boasting implies pride and self-confidence rather than dependence upon the will of God for one’s life. Let those of us who profess the name of Jesus make it a practice to say (and mean) when speaking of our tomorrows, “Be it the Lord’s will” that we will do such. For there is a sin known as ‘presumption’ which is to be avoided.