Proverbs 27:1

Your known future is today. Consider it. You may not be alive tomorrow, and you do not know what will happen tomorrow. God has given you today, and you should use it wisely. God holds your future in His hand, so plans should be humble and modest.

Tomorrow might bring rain, your loss of a job, your spouse leaving, an auto accident, a diagnosis of cancer, or even death. You cannot know or stop any of these events. Your perspective on life and your future could be changed drastically in the next few hours.

You will never have today back. Who should you love in case there is no tomorrow? Who should you forgive? Who should you thank? Who should you comfort? Above all, what can or should you give God today in confession, praise, or conduct to honor Him?

You will never have today back. Guard your thoughts, words, and deeds, lest they cost you painful consequences tomorrow or guilt and grief for eternity. A successful life is a string of godly days put together. Make sure today is the brightest day in that chain.

God’s wisdom says that godliness with contentment is great gain (I Tim 6:6). Are you living today as godly as you know how, and are you content with what God has already given you? This is the way to maximize life and avoid sinfully boasting of tomorrow.

Do not loudly say what you will do in the future. In any significant statement about your plans for the future, humbly submit your life and plans with these words: “If the Lord will.” This is God’s command for your life, and any other approach is evil (Jas 4:13-16).

Do not presume to reconcile offended parties in the future. You could go to them today. Do not procrastinate about any important matters today by the foolish thought you have tomorrow. Humbly satisfy the court of heaven and earth today by using its hours wisely.

Life expectancy is based on averages, but there is no John or Sally Average. In fact, you may die young to make the average what the insurance companies say it is. If the average life expectancy is 73 (Ps 90:10), there are those that at die at 23, 53, and 93 to make it so.

Why are most surprised by death? It is a certainty that no man denies. Because there is a fatal presumption of living tomorrow! All men boast of tomorrow in various ways. And one of the common ways is to ignore death yourself even while planning on it for others.

You do not know if you will die tomorrow or what else might happen, but you will answer for every aspect of today in the Day of Judgment (Rom 14:10-12; II Cor 5:9-11). Therefore the lesson is to live godly and wise lives and submit all plans humbly to God.

What can you do? You should live one day at a time. You should count each day a gift and use it wisely to God’s glory (Ps 90:12; Rom 14:7-9). You should live and love God’s way, so that any loss tomorrow might bring will not disturb the eternal rest of your soul.

Business and other plans should be submitted to God’s sovereign will, for only He knows tomorrow (Jas 4:13-16). Confident plans without this submission are sinful. Boasting in strategic plans or budgets is not only sinful, it is stupid; such plans are mere speculations.

Jesus said, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt 6:34). What precious wisdom! Do not worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough evil today to keep you busy. You should say, “Give me this day my daily bread.”

Fools plan on getting right with God tomorrow, but that day never comes. There are always more excuses. Felix, trembling under Paul’s preaching, told him, “Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee” (Acts 24:25). It never came. You have today to be godly and wise – do not presume on having any other day.

Children and youth foolishly and impatiently presume on many tomorrows, for they crave imagined future pleasures rather than appreciate today. Those of middle age expect to reach old age. The old confidently believe they will outlive neighbors. Such delusions about the future are madness. The minutes reading this proverb could be your last!

Jesus told about a rich and successful man that confidently planned for many years to come, but he died that very night (Luke 12:16-21). God called him a fool for such arrogance and presumption. And you are no wiser, if you do not use today to please God.

One of the best ways to live is to consider today your last day in spiritual things. If you knew you would die tonight and immediately face Almighty God, how would you live today? Unnecessary variations from that perspective prove you are boasting of tomorrow.

Will the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed and only Potentate, find you waiting for His surprise visit at the hour of your death or His sudden coming? You could die today. He is returning soon. Heaven and hell are of grave importance. Will you live today accordingly? Or will you make the fatal mistake of planning tomorrow and dying today?