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If you have any familiarity with the Star Wars franchise like I do, you might remember 2015’s The Force Awakens (and you might not). In it, one of the main villains of the film, Kylo Ren (trying to follow in the footsteps of his grandpa, Darth Vader), makes the statement in a nod to Darth Vader, “Nothing will stand in our way. I will finish what you started.” There is much that could be said regarding the events that follow this statement, but it would not be unfaithful to sum it up as, “Almost everything stood in his way. He did not, in fact, finish what Vader started.”

File that one under ‘Famous Last Words’, I suppose…

Outside of merely being a chronically frustrated character, Kylo Ren’s example serves as a perfect illustration of the mentality that James seeks to correct in 4:13-17. A strong, certain declaration is made about the future with absolutely no certainty of power to bring that future to pass. As Pastor mentioned on Sunday, we may not articulate it in this exact way, but how often do you and I live this out as a functional reality in our lives?

  • In five years, I’ll have this many kids.
  • In ten years, I’ll have this kind of house.
  • I won’t get cancer out of nowhere, I live too healthily.

And on and on we go, don’t we?  The truth of the matter is that you and I live at the Lord’s sovereign pleasure. 

“For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Col. 1:16-17). 

Boasting in ourselves and in our own self-determinism is not only foolish and sinful, it just plain ol’ don’t make sense (as my fellow southerners might say). We are “mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes,” (Ja. 4:14).  Prideful arrogance is the only thing that could bring a mind to be so detached from reality, and we can tend to live here all too often.

Would you join me in walking in repentance this week (as I know I certainly need to!) by following Paul’s example?  “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” - Gal. 6:14