Getting Perspective

Click here for the audio message of – James 4:11-17

How many times have you been convinced that you are in control of your life? You are the captain of your own ship. You are the commander and master of your fate. Right? I think at times we all have this type of thinking.

Sometimes only a crisis type situation will enable us to see the truth. That we are not in control and never have been and never will be. God is in control as we have studied before. In this morning’s scripture James flat out tells us that “[We] are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

This portion of James’ letter focuses on just that fact. He clues us in to realizing what our attitude is toward God, towards others, and towards our future. Then he helps us to make them what they really should be.

James starts by telling us that we are not the judges of other people. Do not speak evil of others. How many of you have ever done that? Yeah, all of us. How many of you have actually done that today! No doubt some of us.

We are not to speak evil of others. Why? Because those who speak evil of others set themselves up as judges. God is the only judge. He is the only one that knows our hearts. Now this speaking evil of others we would translate into slander today.

James is not talking about confronting other’s sin. We are commanded to do that, but we are not judging their sin by our own rules, rather we are confronting their sin based upon the word of God. If we do in fact judge others based upon our own thoughts then we are not respecting God who is the lawgiver.

At lot of times people speak evil of others or slander them to build themselves up. We see this especially with kids, but adults do it as well. As we are building ourselves up we actually start to believe that we are better than other people.

It reminds me of the parable Jesus told of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18. As Max Lucado retells the parable [Traveling Light p 74], the self righteous person prays like this,

“God, I thank you that the world has people like me. The man on the corner needs welfare – I don’t. The prostitute on the street has AIDS – I don’t. The drunk at the bar needs alcohol – I don’t. The gay [people] need morality – I don’t. I thank you that the world has people like me!”

That is the prayer of the self-righteous man. We really ought to be praying like the sinners we are.


“God, have mercy on me, a sinner. Like my brother on welfare, I’m dependent on your grace. Like my sister with AIDS, I’m infected with mistakes. Like my friend who drinks, I need something to ease my pain. And as you love and give direction to the gays, grant some to me as well. Have mercy on me a sinner.”

When we love and trust God, we will also loves others and obey God. We will know that we are no better than anyone else. We are saved by the mercy and grace of God just like others. When we truly realize and believe that, then we can more fully understand what God wants for us and from us.

That brings us back to the opening of this message. Are you living your life thinking you are in control or are you living life as if God is in control? The phrase here today, gone tomorrow is true. We have no control over how long we will live. We should be living each day for God.

Our earthly lives are only temporary, but as you receive Christ into your life you can start to enjoy eternity with Him.

Our life is like a mist, like a vapor, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t plan for things either. James is not saying that at all. Wise planning is very important and in fact is a gift from God. The idea here is to always make God a part of your plan.

The last thing I want to look at this morning is verse 17. I am not going to say much about it, but it really hits home to me and affects the way I live my life.

“Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (NASB) Think about it. Most of us are not “bad” people at least by societies standards. But how often did you not do the right thing, when you knew what the right thing was to do.

There are a great many people sinning today and they don’t even know it. If you know the right thing to do and do not do it, that is sin. Being a Christian is not just about avoiding the wrong things in life, rather it means focusing our lives on doing what is right according to God’s plan.

Our lives are very brief, 70 or 80 years says Moses. We should not spend our time arguing over things that really won’t matter for eternity. It ruins the joy of living. We need to come to Christ and then we will truly start living.

Living the will of God is another test of a Christian’s faith. We should want to carry out the will of God with all our heart. Trying to be in control of our own life is like rejecting God’s path for us.

In John 10:10, Jesus said “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” He wants to give you that life. The question is do you want it and are you living that life today?

Closing Prayer

Lord, we thank you for giving us the knowledge of right and wrong. Help us to do what is right. Help us to love those around us rather than judge them. Make our plans align with your plan. Strengthen our commitment and faith to you.

We ask this in Jesus’ name.

AMEN