The Atheism of the Five-Year Plan Text: James 4:13-17
Introduction: Practical Atheism
We live in an age of frantic planning. We have retirement plans, business plans, vacation plans, and five-year plans. We have planners for our planners. And in all this, we have become masters of a peculiar kind of atheism. It is not the loud, obnoxious atheism of the village idiot who shakes his fist at the sky, but rather the quiet, respectable, and far more insidious atheism of the spreadsheet. It is the atheism that fills out a calendar for the next eighteen months but has no room in it for the sovereignty of God. It is a practical atheism.
This is the sin that James confronts head-on in our text. He is not writing to pagans in the marketplace; he is writing to the church. He is addressing believers who had mastered the art of speaking in a Christian dialect on Sunday, but whose native tongue Monday through Friday was the language of autonomous man. They were functional deists. They believed God created the world, wound it up like a clock, and then retired to a safe distance to watch it tick. But the God of the Bible is not a retired watchmaker. He is the Lord of every tick and every tock.
James is not condemning planning. The book of Proverbs is filled with commendations for the ant who prepares for the winter. Diligence, foresight, and wisdom are Christian virtues. What James is condemning is planning that is functionally atheistic. He is condemning the arrogance of acting as though we are the captains of our own ship, the masters of our own fate. This is the primordial sin of the Garden, the lie of the serpent whispering, "You shall be as gods." The modern man does not need to bite an apple to believe this; he just needs to open his day planner.
This passage is a bucket of ice water thrown on the warm, sleepy assumption that our lives are our own. James tells us that this kind of thinking is not just mistaken; it is arrogant, it is evil, and it is sin. He calls us to dismantle the idol of self-sovereignty and to live every moment in conscious, humble dependence on the God who holds our very breath in His hands.
The Text
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Therefore, to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin.
(James 4:13-17 LSB)
The Arrogant Blueprint (v. 13)
James begins by quoting the practical atheist at his planning session.
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.'" (James 4:13 LSB)
Notice the crisp, confident precision of this plan. It has a timeline: "Today or tomorrow." It has a destination: "such and such a city." It has a duration: "spend a year there." It has a method: "engage in business." And it has a goal: "make a profit." This sounds like a responsible, ambitious business proposal. It sounds like something you would get an MBA for. On the surface, there is nothing wrong with any of these elements. The Bible is not against travel, commerce, or profit.
The poison is not in the plan itself, but in the glaring omission. Where is God in this? He is nowhere. The planner here is operating as a little god of his own little world. He has mapped out his future with no reference to the one who holds the map. He speaks with a certainty that belongs to God alone. He has four key variables locked down: time, place, activity, and result. But he has forgotten the fifth and most important variable: permission. He has not consulted the Landlord of the universe for any of it.
This is the essence of secularism. It is not the denial of God's existence, but the denial of His relevance. It is the assumption that we can carve out whole sections of our lives, like business or finance, and run them ourselves, thank you very much. God is welcome to the "spiritual" bits, like Sunday morning, but the "real world" is our domain. James says this entire mindset is rotten from the foundation up.
The Brutal Reality Check (v. 14)
James then punctures this inflated self-importance with two sharp truths.
"Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:14 LSB)
First, he exposes our ignorance. "You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow." The man with the one-year plan does not even have a guarantee of the next twenty-four hours. His detailed projection is built on a foundation of complete uncertainty. This is not pessimism; it is realism. The world is filled with unforeseen circumstances, sickness, accidents, economic shifts, and a thousand other variables outside our control. To speak with certainty about the future is to lie about the nature of reality. It is to claim a knowledge that we simply do not possess.
Second, he exposes our frailty. "You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." The image is striking. A vapor, a mist, a puff of steam on a cold day. It is visible, it has a shape for a moment, and then it is gone without a trace. Compared to the backdrop of eternity, the longest, most successful life is nothing more than this. The psalmist says our lives are a handbreadth (Psalm 39:5). This is not meant to drive us to despair, but to drive us to sobriety. Our lives are short, fragile, and utterly dependent. We are not granite; we are mist.
The modern world is a conspiracy to make us forget this. We have life insurance, retirement funds, and medical advancements all designed to give us a sense of permanence and control. But these are illusions. James is telling us to face the facts. You are a temporary wisp of smoke. Therefore, the only sane way to live is in moment-by-moment dependence on the eternal God.
The Godly Correction (v. 15)
Having dismantled the arrogant plan, James provides the godly alternative.
"Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.'" (James 4:15 LSB)
This is not a magic formula to be tacked onto the end of our sentences. We are not talking about a Christian version of "knock on wood." This phrase, "If the Lord wills" (Deo volente in Latin), is shorthand for a comprehensive worldview. It is the verbal acknowledgment of a theological reality. It is the confession that God is sovereign and we are not.
Notice the two things that are now subject to God's will: our very life ("we will live") and our actions ("do this or that"). Our existence and our activities are both held within the sovereign decree of God. We cannot take a single breath apart from His sustaining will. We cannot accomplish a single task apart from His empowering will. This is what it means to be a creature.
To live this way is to live in freedom. The man who thinks he is in control is a slave to his circumstances. Every unexpected event is a crisis that threatens his fragile kingdom. But the man who says, "If the Lord wills," is free. He can plan, work, and strive with all his might, but his ultimate trust is not in his plan but in his God. When things go well, he gives thanks to the Giver. When things go poorly, he trusts the wisdom of his sovereign Father. His peace is not dependent on the outcome of his plans, but on the character of his God.
The Divine Diagnosis (v. 16)
James now returns to the original problem and gives it a stark diagnosis.
"But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil." (James 4:16 LSB)
The problem with the godless five-year plan is not merely that it is unrealistic. The problem is that it is a form of arrogant boasting. To plan and speak without reference to God is to boast. You are boasting in your own wisdom, your own strength, and your own autonomy. You are implicitly claiming for yourself the prerogatives that belong to God alone.
And James does not mince words. He calls this what it is: "All such boasting is evil." It is not a minor foible or a personality quirk. It is evil because it is idolatry. It is the creature attempting to usurp the throne of the Creator. It is a declaration of independence from God, which is the very definition of sin. This is why practical atheism is so dangerous. It dresses up the mortal sin of pride in the respectable business suit of prudence and ambition.
The Concluding Principle (v. 17)
James concludes this section with a principle that broadens the application immensely.
"Therefore, to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin." (James 4:17 LSB)
This is the sin of omission. James connects it directly to what he has just said. You have been taught the right way to think about your life and plans. You now know that you ought to live in humble submission to God's will. Therefore, if you hear this and continue to live as a practical atheist, it is sin. Knowledge increases responsibility.
But the principle is much wider. Sin is not just the list of things you do that are forbidden. Sin is also the failure to do the things that are commanded. We sin by commission when we break a negative command ("You shall not steal"). We sin by omission when we fail to keep a positive command ("You shall love your neighbor").
The arrogant planner is sinning by omission. He knows he ought to acknowledge God, but he fails to do so. The man who walks by his neighbor in need sins by omission. He knows he ought to help, but he does not. The Christian who knows he ought to share the gospel but remains silent sins by omission. Our Christian lives are not merely about avoiding a list of "don'ts." They are about actively and joyfully pursuing a long list of "do's." To know the good and not do it is not neutrality; it is rebellion.
Conclusion: Living Under the Providential Sky
So what does this look like? It means we plan, but we plan with open hands. We work hard, but we pray harder. We make our five-year plans, but we write them in pencil and give God the eraser. It means that every business meeting, every financial decision, and every calendar entry is brought under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
The ultimate cure for practical atheism is a robust doctrine of God's providence. Providence is the belief that God is not distant, but is intimately and actively involved in every detail of His creation, guiding it all toward His intended end. Nothing happens by chance. Your life is not a series of random events; it is a story being written by a masterful Author.
This is profoundly good news. The vapor of your life is not drifting aimlessly in the wind. It is held and directed by the loving hand of your heavenly Father. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32). The one who directs your every breath is the one who died to save your soul.
Therefore, we can live with courage. We can make bold plans for the kingdom of God, not because we trust in our own strength, but because we trust in His. We can step out in faith, saying, "If the Lord wills, we will take that city for Christ. If the Lord wills, we will build that business for His glory. If the Lord wills, we will raise our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord." And we know that His will is good, acceptable, and perfect.
To know this truth and not to live by it is sin. But to know this truth and to embrace it is freedom. It is the freedom of being a creature, a vapor, held securely in the hands of an eternal and sovereign God.