James 4:13-16 stands out as a strange departure from what has been the focus of the previous two chapters. Notice what he wrote.
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not 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. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil."
Upon reading these few verses, we note that James is further developing the ideas related to the tongue. Having thoroughly addressed the evils of our tongue in the stories we tell ourselves and
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James condemned arrogant boasting. He provided the example of such boasting in something we all probably relate to: Planning for the future.
We are familiar with the danger of boasting. We probably learned some great lessons as children, warning us against it. Proverbs 27:1 says,
"Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring."
In 1 Corinthians 13:4, Paul wrote that "love does not boast".
He also stated in 2 Corinthians 10:17, "Let one who boasts, boast in the Lord." (This itself is probably a reference to Jeremiah 9:23-24.)
Obviously, boasting is not sinful, if done properly. So why did James condemn it when the Scriptures also teach that it is not wrong? Just by asking the question the answer comes to mind. It comes down to a question of what we boast in.
Isn't boasting simply expressing joy in something that pleases you? Generally speaking, we understand that boasting is wrong because it exhibits confidence, trust, and joy in ourselves instead of God. It is selfish. But at its root, it is about rejoicing.
Think about the book of James and what we have covered so far. Does this idea of boasting sound familiar? Didn't he write earlier about where we place our