“Boast not about tomorrow; for you know not what a day may bring forth” (Prov 27:1).
This proverb is violated by nearly everyone if not everyone who professes Jesus Christ as the Lord of their life. It is sister to any number of scripture passages including one by the apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Corinth: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians1:31). We are admonished elsewhere in the same manner when speaking of our tomorrows or future plans. Those who have died to self and consciously submitted their lives to the lordship of Christ will not be found boasting of what they will do tomorrow. Rather they will be sensitive to having their lives led by the Spirit of God, knowing that it is only “those who are led by the Holy Spirit who are the children of God” (Romans 8:14). In the same vein, it is also correct to say that relatively few who profess Christ live truly Spirit-lead lives in the power of Christ’s resurrection (Phil 3:10). The kingdom of heaven (or God) has been lost to the visible Church in great part for many centuries and is even ignored in the great creeds set forth in the early centuries. Jesus’ command concerning preaching the “gospel of the kingdom” and healing all manners of disease, setting the oppressed free by casting out demons, and even raising the dead has virtually disappeared from the religious scene in America. Likewise most believers make their own plans for tomorrows in many arenas of life, plans which are set in concrete for all practical purposes with little if any prayer, let alone any waiting for confirmation from heaven. Those who set goals for themselves and complete the goals in their own strength are also likely to succumb to boasting of accomplishments. In contrast, Paul tells us to boast of weaknesses and to instead speak of dependence on God (2 Corinthians 12:5,9). James was no doubt familiar with Proverbs 27:1 when he wrote by inspiration of Holy Spirit, “Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow….instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live, and do this or that’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:14-16). A principle by which all of us should live is, “If it is the Lord’s will” rather than boasting about tomorrow. And to assume, let alone boast, that whatever we do in the name of Jesus is acceptable in heaven is a sin of presumption. For in truth, only that which God Himself does in and through us will endure eternally as acceptable: “I know that, whatsoever God does, it shall endure forever: nothing can be put to it nor any thing taken from it” (Ecclesiastes 3:14). So let us be extremely wary of boasting about anything, be it past, present, or future, and thereby risk touching glory which belongs solely to our heavenly Father and His Son.
