When we think of sins, we normally think of things we do, but shouldn't - lying, cheating, stealing, etc. These are sins of commission. But we usually forget about sins of omissions - NOT doing what we ought.
James addresses the need to do good when we ought:
James 4:13-17 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, 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 it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.
We normally don't do what we ought, because we get busy doing other things - not necessarily bad things - usually morally neutral things. The things we ought to do usually pop up when we are busy. Helping someone change a tire or working with them to draw up a budget or sitting with them when they are distraught over something or needing a ride to/from chemotherapy or the like are examples of the things we ought.
James is saying that when we firm up plans that are so inflexible that they prevent us from doing the good we ought, we are misunderstanding the shortness and tentativeness of our very existence. James is urging us to never bypass opportunities to do good.
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