December 25, 2010
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God has a plan
Christmas is over for this year. It is the culmination of a lot of planning for many of us. Some of you may already be planning for next Christmas. If we aren’t planning for Christmas a year for now, many of us are planning for the coming year. Some will make resolutions for the new year, and some will plan for what they want to accomplish in the coming year; a new career or the ending of a current career; perhaps an addition to their family unit; or a plan for how we will get healthy, wealthy, or wise in the next year. Some of us are compulsive planners, I like to have a plan for the possibility that my back-up plan will fail. I continue to plan despite my clear knowledge that when Bob plans, God laughs.
The problem really isn’t with planning. I continue to plan; I think it makes life easier if I have a plan for what I am going to do today, tomorrow, for the week, month, next six months, and year. Jesus tells us in Luke, Chapter 14 to consider the cost of discipleship. We should be prudent like a person building a tower considers the cost, or the way a ruler will consider the cost of war and chances of success before starting one. We are to plan based on what we anticipate and what resources we have at our disposal. It is also clear the disciples planned their missionary journeys. I believe God honors our planning and we must realize is that it is our plan and not God’s plan. We cannot expect God to carry out our plan. What makes surrendering my plan easier is that I have come to accept that I am happier when I let it be God’s plan and not my plan. C. S. Lewis says there are basically two ways we can relate to God when it comes to our plans and expectations, “those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done’ and those to whom God says, ‘All right then, have it your way’”.
We should make our plans with the understanding that we do not know everything and we must be prepared for our situation and our plans to change. God does not give us the plan for more than just the present moment because we are not promised any more than this moment. We must plan knowing everything can change in a moment and all of our plans will be meaningless. The purpose of faith is to assure us that even though we do not know everything, God does. Nothing comes as a surprise to God. I cannot imagine God saying, “I never saw that coming!” We place our faith and our plans into God’s hands and trust that God loves us and what unfolds God will use to our good. Not everything that happens is good, but God can work it around to good. I don’t believe we will always understand how God’s plan is unfolding or what good will come of it. I can’t imagine that Joseph and Mary thought that traveling to Egypt with a new born baby was a good plan. I am sure the mothers of the slaughtered innocents thought it was a good plan. I don’t know that I understand today how that was a good plan. What I do know is that I am asked to have faith in God and trust in God’s plan.
As I consider where the new year will take me, I try to do so without drawing and lines in the sand telling God what I won’t do. It is just so humbling when I have to do what I said I wouldn’t do. I encourage you, as you make your plans, to also do so with a sense of surrender that says to God, “Your will be done.” As you make your personal plans, leave room for God to do something unexpected in your life. Approach adversity and struggle with a sense there is something to be learned and gained in the experience. Be open to the possibility that what you planned was not what was best for you and/or for others. Simply put make your plans with humility recognizing the limits of your knowledge and foresight.
I would encourage you as a church to make your plans for the church with the same humility. It is certainly important for you to plan, to spend time considering who you are and what resources you have, for you to consider the cost of what you propose to do and the likelihood of success. Together you need to make a plan as to how you will be church and what are the essential ministries of the church. You will make plans for being church without a spiritual leader, and how you will call a spiritual leader. The important consideration in all of this planning is for you not to lose sight of your limitations of knowledge and foresight. You must include in your planning the possibility that God will reveal a different plan for this church. If you are too wedded to your plan, God may just say, “Have it your way” and that is not a good thing.
God does have a plan but God does not force the plan on us. God has blessed or cursed us, depending on how we use it, with free will. We can insist on following our plan and God doesn’t stop us. God waits patiently until we realize how poorly our plan is turning out and, when we ask God to show us God’s plan, God will work things around to bring us back into the plan that is right for us. It seems to me the most critical knowledge we need to know and to use when we plan is to remember God has a plan. God’s will be done. Amen.
