Here's Something Worth Remembering, Part 3

Last year's wild ride will undoubtedly produce an abundance of books and movies. The year behind us played out like a sensational novel.

Each month, like 12 page turning chapters in a bestseller, unveiled a storyline none of us saw coming. Well today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll turns to the New Testament book of James for wise counsel. Our goal is to forget what lies behind and to prepare for the inevitable surprises ahead. James chapter 4 teaches us that the key to surviving 2021 is relinquishing control. And Chuck titled today's message, Here's Something Worth Remembering. I hope you will say to yourself each week through the next number of weeks this year, I am not in charge.

Just five words, easy to remember, hard to practice. To begin with, I'm not in charge of others. Verses 11 through 12 talk about that.

When I try to take charge of others, what do I do? Well, I speak against them and I judge them. James addresses both.

Look at it. Verse 11, do not speak evil against or criticize dear brothers and sisters. If you criticize and judge each other, you're criticizing and judging God's law. That's not your call. Only he knows everything.

Only he knows all the facts. Second, as I said earlier, we ignore our own faults and failures. And third, I will add, we assault our love relationship when we do that. So for this year, let's you and me agree, since you and I are not in charge of others, let's agree that we will not operate as though we are.

And we'll stop putting people down and judging them. Now the second reminder, we're not even in charge of ourselves, verses 13 to 16. Look here, James begins this 13th verse, and in this 13th verse, he puts his finger on five things an individual does who attempts to control his own life or her own life. Number one, look at how he puts it, you who say today or tomorrow. So we begin by setting our own hard and fast schedule. He's talking about an individual who declares or sets in concrete, hard and fast, this will be my schedule, today or tomorrow. Remember that word tomorrow, I'll get back to it.

Look further in verse 13. We are going to a certain town. So the second an individual does, when he thinks he controls his or her own life, we declare our own destination. That is where we will be. That is where we will move. That is where we are going. We are going to a certain town.

Notice how it's written. And we'll stay there a year. Third, we determine our own limits. We're going to be there a year. That's the plan. That's what I want. That's what I plan. That's what I'm going to do. We will stay there a year.

Fourth, we arrange our own agenda. We will do business there. That's the plan. My plan.

I'm going to do that. We will do business there. And notice he wraps it up with, and we'll make a profit. We predict our own outcome. When we're in charge, that's what we're going to do.

That's going to be the result. See, this is mistaken confidence. It's presumption. Because I am not in charge, I have no right to do those things.

In fact, he really does dig in in verse 14. Look at the question. How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your Bible probably reads, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.

You don't. When it comes to tomorrow, three words fit. I don't know. That's why I am not in charge. Only one knows.

Only one. That's why he's in charge. Lord, you're in charge. This is your day. Thank you for allowing me to live it, but it's yours.

It's got your name written all over it. I want it to be for your glory. I don't want to be involved in anything that you don't want, so stop me. Turn me.

Reverse my plan. See, we are, because we're mere humans, we have no idea what the future includes. A rude intrusion changes everything. That's why one of the most uneasy words in our language for us to deal with is unexpected. Tomorrow has that word written all over it. How could you know what to expect until you have lived it?

Now, he gives a good analogy. Look closely. Your life is like the morning fog, like a mist, says one of the renderings.

That's life on this earth. Believe me. Hear me. More importantly, hear this. Your life is like the morning fog.

Hear a little while, then it's gone. You ought to say, if the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that. What else does that mean? If the Lord wants us to. I'm planning on it, but it's all written in pencil with a big eraser. That's how we live our lives. All for his glory.

All for his pleasure. Otherwise, he says, if you don't live like that, verse 16, you're boasting about your own plans and all such boasting is evil. Look at that.

You're boasting about your own plan. That's evil. So that's a sin. Don't do that.

Don't do that ever through this new year. And then at the end of the passage is a stinger. When you play in a band and you play marches, that march usually will end with one note. It's called a stinger.

Just one quick staccato. And the band hits it and the march is over. This is a stinger in this passage. It begins with, remember, remember, remember what? Look, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. I am not going to touch that except to say it means exactly what it says.

You have heard what we need to do. A whole year of not putting people down, a whole year of giving God the credit, the glory, and full reign of our lives. A whole year of pleasing him, not ourselves. I know that, but when I come to that date in my day timer that I've marked with my ballpoint pen and I realize that's not going to happen. I don't grieve that. I say, Lord, you have your way here. I'll X that day out from my plan because you've got your right to do what you wish.

Horatio Bonar put it this way. Thy will, not mine, O Lord, however dark it be, lead me by thine own hand, choose out the path for me. I dare not choose my lot.

I would not if I might. Choose thou for me, my God, so shall I walk aright. Choose thou for me my friends, my sickness, or my health. Choose thou my cares for me, my poverty, or my wealth.

Not mine, not mine the choice in things both great or small. Be thou my Lord, my love, my wisdom, and my all. I saved a story for the end of this message that I didn't have time to give in the first service, but I want to read the story to you. It illustrates the value of speaking well of one another, doing what is right. Just sit there and listen. I want you to hear this story.

It's that valuable. He was in the third grade class I taught at St. Mary's School in Morris, Minnesota. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million, very neat in appearance. He had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful. Mark also talked incessantly. I tried to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much, though, was the sincere response every time I had to correct him for misbehaving. Thank you for correcting me, sister, he would say. I didn't know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing those words many times a day.

Thank you for correcting me, sister. One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often. I made a novice teacher's mistake. I looked at Mark and said, if you say one more word, I'm going to tape your mouth shut. It wasn't ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, Mark is talking again. I hadn't asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but here it is.

We take charge of others' lives. Did you see it? But Chuck had said that, and since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk very deliberately, opened the drawer, and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark's desk, tore off two pieces of tape, and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me.

That did it. I started laughing. The entire class cheered as I walked back to Mark's desk and removed the tape and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, thank you for correcting me, teacher.

Sweet story. At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it, Mark was in my classroom again.

He was now more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the new math, he did not talk as much in ninth grade. One Friday, things just didn't feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed the students were growing frustrated with themselves as well and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand, so I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish the assignment, but as the students left the room, each one handed me their paper. Chuck smiled. Mark said to me, thank you for teaching me, sister.

Have a good weekend. That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone had said about that individual. On the following Monday, I gave each student his or her list.

Some of them ran two pages. Before long, the entire class was smiling. I overheard, really? As one whispered, I never knew that meant anything to anyone. I didn't know others like me so much. No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and with one another again. That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I had returned from a vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, mother asked the usual questions about the trip, how the weather was, my experiences in general. There was a slight lull in the conversation. Mother gave dad a sideways glance and simply said, dad? My father cleared his throat. The Eklund's called last night, he began.

Really? I said, I haven't heard from them for several years. I wonder how Mark is. Dad responded quietly. Mark was killed in Vietnam. He said. The funeral is tomorrow. And his parents would like it if you could attend. To this day, I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where dad told me about Mark.

I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before wearing his uniform. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, Mark, I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you could talk to me now. The church was packed. With Mark's friends, Chuck's sister sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Why, did it have to rain on the day of the funeral?

It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers and the bugler played taps. One by one, those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin. I was the last one. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who had acted as a pallbearer came up to me. Mark's math teacher, he asked.

I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. He said, Mark talked about you a lot. After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates headed to Chuck's farmhouse for lunch. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. We want to show you something, his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. They found this on Mark when he was killed.

We thought you might recognize it. Opening the billfold, he carefully removed the two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him. Thank you so much for doing that, Mark's mother said. As you can see, Mark treasured it.

Mark's classmates started to gather around us. Chuck smiled rather sheepishly and said, I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home. John's wife said, John asked me to put his in our wedding album. I have mine too, Marilyn said. It's in my diary. Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. I carry this with me at all times. Vicki said, without batting an eyelash, I think we have all saved our lists. That was when I finally sat down and cried and cried.

I cried for Mark and for all of his friends who would never see him again. In this new year, let's build one another up. Let's stop putting them down. You may even write a note that tells them how much you think of them.

They will treasure it for life. And never forget, we are not in charge. As you bow your head with me, you hardly need anything more said, but it's possible that you've just come to realize what a mess you have made of things. Because you have tried to conduct all the affairs of your life as though you're in charge. And you realize now you aren't. And the reason it's a mess is because you can't fight against God.

Jesus died to give you a reason for living, to free you from the control of sin over your life, to help you do what you know is right, and you'll never be able to do it without Jesus in your life. So take him now. Don't resist. You've resisted all this time. Stop resisting. Say yes to him. Give him the controls.

Invite him to come in, and he will take charge. Thank you, dear Lord, for teachers like that. Thank you for those who've helped shape our lives. Thank you for friends who love us in spite of our failures and those things we've done that needed to be forgiven. Thank you for good parents. Thank you for homes where we were loved. Thank you for this day, the first day of the rest of our lives, in this new year, waiting to be lived. Take charge.

We will back off and give you the controls. In Jesus' name, I pray all God's people said, amen. You're listening to Insight for Living. Today's message is titled, Here's Something Worth Remembering. To learn more about this ministry, visit us online at insightworld.org. Perhaps the closing illustration from Chuck Swindoll has inspired you to reach out to friends and family with a timely word of encouragement. We urge you to follow through on your good intentions, knowing that you'll make someone's day. Well, gratefully, Insight for Living is the recipient of so many kind expressions from those who listen to this program.

Many of them come from people who are clearly in the process of working through issues that are painful. Recently, a listener from Massachusetts left a note at insight.org that said, I just wanted to say how grateful I've been for Pastor Swindoll's preaching. My faith has been shaken and tested.

I just got divorced, and I try my best to learn how to forgive and keep my faith. Your words keep me in the light of Jesus, and I'm trying my best to do the same for my children. I get afraid at times, but when I feel doubtful and I hear your sermons, I get hopeful. Well, notes like this inspire us to continue providing Chuck's Bible teaching, and if you're among those who have financially supported Insight for Living Ministries, we want you to know that your investment is making an impact. We're especially grateful for our monthly companions and anyone who's given a donation to reach men and women like this listener. Perhaps you're in a position to give on behalf of others who've come to rely on Insight for Living, just as someone once did for you. Your generosity right now will mean so much.

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Or go online to Insight.org. And as we look ahead to the next edition of Insight for Living, we're returning to the signature series called Becoming a People of Grace. . I'm Dave Spiker, inviting you to join us again tomorrow when Chuck Swindoll resumes his study in the book of Ephesians here on Insight for Living. The preceding message. Here's something worth remembering. And the sound recording were copyrighted in 2020 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited. .