To make plans in pen without regard to the sovereignty and supremacy of God is to usurp the glory that belongs only to God. James drives this home when he says, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (Jas. 4:17). By this pronouncement, James labels such autonomy, “sin.” 

“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’.” (James 4:15, ESV)
We’ve seen that James doesn’t discourage our planning, just our writing those plans in pen as though they were indelible. Rather, we are to subject our plans to the will of our Father in heaven. Every event on our calendars should carry the subscript “D. V.,” Latin for Deo Volente, “God willing.” Another way to put it is that our plans should be written in pencil, ready to be revised or retracted according to the will of God.
What is it James wants us to understand? Is it simply that things change and we need to be ready to adjust? Certainly that’s true but there is a more fundamental matter to consider, and that is there is only one God and it’s not us.
In Psalm 90, the only psalm attributed to Moses, the concluding plea is, “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Ps. 90:17). Through Moses, the Holy Spirit bids us to seek God for stability, success, and satisfaction. We do not have it in ourselves to ensure these things. We must seek our God.
Moses begins the psalm by highlighting the nature of God and the distinction between us as creatures and God as Creator.
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 As the culture celebrates that which should be suppressed, and kids are encouraged to explore hints of desires that were once easily corrected through both social stigma and proper understanding of desire as it relates to sexuality, we can expect more people to identify as other than “straight”+ their biological gender. In the end, it’s a disordering of the order of creation, a destruction of society,  and an attempt to dethrone God.  

Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.—Romans 1:32
“George, what are you afraid of if Gay Marriage is legalized? Its not like people will become gay.  People don’t choose to be gay.”  That was an oft-repeated point in the time leading up to the Obergefell decision.  In the years since, we have seen homosexuality go from merely tolerated to Gay Marriage being legalized, corporations tripping over themselves to cash-in, school books celebrating it and kids encouraged to explore it, dragshows for children, and now the Presidential Declaration that June is Pride month.
In the midst of all of this, I have heard repeated concerns from parents with stories of gender and sexual confusion running rampant in their children’s middle schools. One friend in North Carolina told me that in the public school where his daughter goes that 50% of the girls identify as other than straight-female.  A friend in Florida laments how all the middle school girls have girlfriends.   One man in a Christian Facebook group asked for prayer because his daughter who is struggling to make friends came home and told him that she is bisexual because a popular girl in her class came up and spoke to her and she became flush. Naturally, this to her meant she must be gay, because that’s what she’s hearing in school. It can’t be that she was just glad to be noticed.
Are these stories just anecdotal?  Or is something going on? And why is this phenomenon heavily weighted toward adolescent girls?   Abigail Shrier, who is not a Christian, explored an aspect of this in her 2020 book entitled Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze that is Seducing Our Daughters.  Her observations are heartbreaking, the statistics are telling, and what is happening is nothing short of child abuse.
And while 50% may be difficult to believe, the statistics do bear out a huge increase in youth identifying as something other than heterosexual + their biological gender.  In reporting on this phenomenon, US News cited a study showing that 17.8% of girls between ages 15-17 identify as other than heterosexual.  Nearly 18%! This compared to a much lower 6% for boys.  When both genders are taken together, that is an overall 41% increase in just 5 years!  A Christianity Today piece cites a recent Barna Study that shows that “Teenagers in Gen Z are at least TWICE as likely as American adults to identify as LGBT.”  That’s a 100% increase between current teenagers and adults.
It is common for social scientists to explain this phenomenon in this way:
…we cannot be certain if this represents a true increase of this magnitude, or if it reflects at least in part, greater comfort by teens with acknowledging a non-heterosexual identity on an anonymous questionnaire…—Dr. Andrew Adesman
It is reasonable that this explains some of the increase, but 41% over 5 years, and 100% increase over adults?  Not likely.
What’s this have to do with the Moral Law?
This is where Calvin’s Institutes, Book II helps us out.  Calvin explains that while Christians are saved by Grace through faith there is still validity to the Moral Law of God.  In that, he gives his “3 uses of the law”:

It is a Mirror – It shows us that we don’t live up to God’s standard.
It Restrains Evil in Society – Civil Law is modeled after the moral law.
It shows us what is pleasing to God and encourages us to walk in that manner by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

While there has been much controversy over the 3rd use of the Law being abandoned among Christians, we are seeing the same happen with the 2nd use of the Law.   This has even occurred among Christians who have bought into the lie that gay marriage should be allowed because we aren’t a Christian nation.  We are supposed to after-all have a separation between the Church and State, so the argument goes.
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What better news could you ponder than to know that the God of all creation, the God who controls every detail and atom in existence, is your Father. Consider that personal pronoun, your. You are his child, and he your Father. Stand tall, dear Christian, and remember who your beloved and loving Father is.

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.—Romans 8:14
Is there anything more comforting in all of God’s revealed word than the thought that in Christ we are sons of God? We are finding ourselves climbing higher and higher up the mountain peak of Romans 8 and now in verse 14 we have stepped out on to one of those rare ledges where we can look out and take in one of the most beautiful views in all the landscape of God’s Scripture: the glorious doctrine of our adoption in Christ. The air up here is fresh and breathing it in brings an exhilarating assurance to any Christian who takes the time look and take in the wonder of its truth.
The first thing we need to notice is the immediate logic which leads Paul to declare this stunning truth. He’s just been arguing that since Christians are people who have the Spirit of Christ indwelling them, and therefore the Spirit works within them to put to death the deeds of the body, to mortify sin within our lives. But notice the move he makes here in verse 14. It’s as if he’s saying, how could our lives look any different! Of course, Christians put sin to death because “all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” In other words, if you have the Spirit of God within you, you will necessarily act and live your life in such a way that shows you are a part of God’s family. “All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
I remember in High School my father pulling me aside anytime I was ready to go to some get together with friends, and he’s always say the same thing: “Remember who you are. Remember your last name, that you are an Unthank.” His point was clear. How I acted at this High School party represented my whole family and therefore he was reminding me to not act in such a way that was contrary to how he and my mom raised me. To my shame I didn’t always heed his advice well, but looking back I know those brief reminders kept me out of far more trouble then had he never said anything at all.
In one sense, Paul is doing the same thing here. He’s reminding us of who we are. Do you see the objective reality of his statement. It’s a statement of indicative truth. If you are led by the Spirit of God, then, says Paul, that means you are a son of God. He doesn’t say “All who live a life of righteousness will one day, maybe, gain the status of being God’s son. No, if you have his Spirit then, de facto, you are God’s son. On one level, this is nothing more than Paul reminding us, you’re a Christian; God is now no longer your judge but your Heavenly Father, and because of that you yourself are a changed person! Live like it! “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
But there’s more to what Paul is saying here. He’s also reminding us that we are in Christ. Remember, that’s been the major thrust of Paul’s argument so far in Romans 8. He began by declaring the wonderful good news that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” And we’ve seen how all the benefits of our salvation and redemption aren’t gifts given to us out of thin air; no, everything we have in terms of salvation we have by being found in Christ. He is our Righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30) and so by faith in him and becoming one with him, his righteousness becomes our righteousness. He is Wisdom (Proverbs 8) and so by becoming one with him through faith, his wisdom becomes our wisdom. And now Paul is telling us, “Look, Jesus is the Son of God. And so, by believing in him and thus becoming one with him, his sonship now becomes our sonship.” It’s a staggering reality! Because of Jesus Christ we are now adopted as sons in the Son. Incidentally, I think this is why Scripture always uses the language of “son” rather than “sons and daughters.” The emphasis is on our union in Christ. We are all sons, whether we’re male or female, simply because we’re united in the Son. Ladies, don’t fret, all believing men are caught up in the image of the church as the Bride of Christ, so it all evens out.
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