James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin
Consider the things that you think about today. Think about the things that you may fuss over, like a dog over his bone, or the things you worry about, things that tumble around in your head. Chances are, you worry about things that you do not understand or know. For instance, you worry about other people and what is in their heads because you don’t know what they are thinking. Sometimes we think we do, but obviously we do not. We are not mind readers and we do not know hearts. Regarding ourselves, we worry about tomorrow because we are not there yet and we don’t know what will happen. So, we spend a lot of our worry on any given day thinking about ourselves and the future or other people and what is in their minds.
On the other hand, we tend to not worry about the things that happen every day, the things that are routine. In fact, they are so routine, we don’t even know that they are habits. Most of us are very predictable. I have a little dog, and she knows me quite well. It is interesting because, unless she knows English, which I have sometimes suspected, I am giving her some kind of cue to know things that you wouldn’t think she would know.
For instance, if I am going to my parent’s house, she somehow knows. She gets all excited and feels left out if I don’t take her. If I am going to church, most times my dog somehow knows and she just lays in her bed. How does she know when I am going to my parents or when I am going to church? I don’t know. I don’t tell her, but there is probably some cue she gets that I don’t even know that I’m putting off. In other words, it is a habit. I don’t have to think about it, I just do it. I get up in the morning. I do the same things. I brush my teeth the same way, go to work the same way, park in the same spot, and go in the same door. We don’t think about things.
James 4 flips the script. We worry about things that we don’t know and that we can’t see, but the Lord says we should be more concerned about things we do know and can change and leave else everything to Him. James 4:14 says, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” I don’t even know what is going to happen tomorrow. I am going through routines today, a collection of habits that guides my days. As to tomorrow, I may have plans and expectations, but I don’t know. It is very easy to worry about those things we don’t know, what is in someone’s heart or what is in my future. The Bible says you don’t know.
In contrast, verse 17 says, “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” Verse 14 says, “Ye know not.” Verse 17 says, “You know and you need to do.” The point is that I don’t know the future and I don’t know your heart, but I do know what is right for me to do right now. You say, “Wil, I don’t. In four hours I have some appointment or job and I just don’t know what to do.” That is four hours away. Do what you know to be right, right now. I’m making this a little exaggerated, but if I will just take the step I know to be right at this moment, God will give me light as it is needed in the future. I don’t need to quibble over what is in people’s hearts. I don’t need to worry about tomorrow. I can leave that to God.
But God is not going to do what I should do. If I should do something right, I should do it and seek His grace to accomplish it, but I am the one who should take initiative on that, responding to what God has said.
We often think of sin as something we do actively. That can be true, but here sin seems to be something we are not doing, something I know is right and I do not do. Sometimes we plead ignorance when really what we need is courage. We want to pretend that we really don’t know what the answer is when we do. We just don’t want to act on the answer.
Today, God is purely sufficient for your unknown future. God knows the thoughts of your unknown friends. God has given you what you need to know to do today. Do what is right today and God will take care of you along the way.