Matthew 6: 25-34 KJV James 4: 13-16 NKJV James 3: 5 NIV.
The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. James 3: 5
There are two pitfalls to avoid in Christian living.
One is to be anxious about our future, being constantly preoccupied with securing a good future for ourselves, literally about "what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink".
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on . . . Matthew 6: 25
Our Lord teaches us not to worry about our future. "Take no thought," he says in the King James Version of the Bible, telling us to avoid the pitfall of anxiety over our bodies, our food and our clothing, and I should think, our tomorrow!
Another pitfall is to be arrogant about our future, being proud of our accomplishments and carelessly confident of our capabilities to get what we want for our future. We begin to "make great boasts" James tells us.
James 4: 13 - 16 has a warning for many of us who boast of great plans for our future, to "go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit . . ."quite forgetting that we can never know what will happen tomorrow.
For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. . . . .But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil
A wise Christian would say to himself, "If the Lord wills, . . ." before he tells anyone how he intends to live or what he plans to do in the future. In this way he avoids the pitfall of being arrogant about his future.
So dear Christians, let us take no thought for our lives, and make no boast with our tongues.
