James 4:13-16

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your proud intentions. All such boasting is evil.

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Read all of James 4

20 songs meet this passage

God's Plan · Drake
strains against James 4:13-16
The song's boasting about status, turf, and legacy runs against James's warning not to boast in tomorrow's plans as if life and success were fully in our own hands.
“Cannot be stopped, you payin' attention?”
CLOUDS · NF
strains against James 4:13-16
The confident claim of unstoppable success leaves little room for the humility James urges about plans being subject to God's will.
“time is running out, no need to take it slow”
I Ain't Worried · OneRepublic
strains against James 4:13-14
The song treats time as something to seize carelessly, while James reminds us our days are brief and uncertain, calling for humility rather than bravado about tomorrow.
“I'm gonna go, go, go, there's no stopping me”
Don't Stop Me Now · Queen
strains against James 4:13-14
The song's boast of unstoppable momentum stands against James' reminder that no one controls tomorrow, let alone their own trajectory through life.
“I just want to live while I'm alive”
It's My Life · Bon Jovi
strains against James 4:13-14
The song declares its own terms for living without reference to anything beyond the self, while James reminds us life is brief and ultimately held in God's hands, not our own.
Champagne Supernova · Oasis
strains against James 4:13-14
James warns against presuming on the future as if it's guaranteed or controllable, while the lyric leans into carefree escapism without reckoning with life's fragility (echoed just after in 'we live and die').
“I'm gonna settle down boys if I can”
Clementine · Johnny Cash
resonates with James 4:13-14
Cody's confident plans for tomorrow are undone overnight, a plain echo of James' warning that we don't know what the next day holds.
Ordinary People · John Legend
strains against James 4:13-15
Where James points future uncertainty back to trust in God's will, the song leaves its 'maybes' hanging without any larger hope to anchor them.
Bucket List · Saba
resonates with James 4:14
Life described as a brief flash mirrors James's image of life as a mist, grounding the song's urgency in a true observation about mortality.
“It's a short life”
Nice For What · Drake
resonates with James 4:14
The acknowledgment that life is brief is true, but the song's response (chase pleasure now) contrasts with James's call to hold that truth with humility before God.
“Nobody's promised tomorrow”
Die With A Smile · Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars
resonates with James 4:14
The song's awareness that life is fleeting mirrors this warning that our days are like a mist, though here it motivates love rather than humility before God.
Who Am I · Casting Crowns
resonates with James 4:14
Directly recalls James's description of life as a vapor, reinforcing dependence on God rather than self-sufficiency.
“Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away”
Dream On · Aerosmith
resonates with James 4:14
The fleeting nature of life invoked by the lyric aligns with James's reminder that life is but a mist that appears for a little while.
“Forget the hearse, 'cause I'll never die”
Back In Black · AC/DC
strains against James 4:14
The song boasts immortality and invincibility, while James reminds us life is a mist we don't control.
“Just a drop of water in an endless sea”
Dust In the Wind · Kansas
resonates with James 4:14
James likens life to a mist that appears briefly, the same smallness this line captures about a single drop in the sea.
The Dance · Garth Brooks
resonates with James 4:14
Acknowledges the limits of human foresight and the fragility of our plans and triumphs, much like the song's humility about not knowing the future.
Live Like You Were Dying · Tim McGraw
resonates with James 4:14
The song's whole premise, that life is a mist and today matters, resonates with James's warning not to presume on tomorrow.
“You can always put a rain check in his hand”
'Til You Can't · Cody Johnson
resonates with James 4:14
The song's warning against endless postponement mirrors James' reminder that life is a mist, here today and gone tomorrow.
“life is too short”
Efflictim · WZRD
resonates with James 4:14
James names life as a mist that appears briefly; the song's refrain echoes that same awareness of fragility.
“The world is movin', we were never meant to stay”
White Keys · Dominic Fike
resonates with James 4:14
A fleeting, mist-like view of life and relationships, acknowledging impermanence without finding anything steadier to hold onto.

20 songs meet this passage

Elsewhere in James 4