I open my online news page each morning. Always like to find out what the world considers important. Among the political headlines I learned that the 20-year-old man who won $451M in the lottery “retired.” (Did anyone really expect him not to?) Someone discovered a spider that looks like a pelican. (Oh joy!) I also learned a fan was ejected for yelling obscenities at an NBA star and why it makes more sense to rent than buy.
The only one that really interested me was the slide show on “Why you can’t stick to your New Year’s resolutions.” There were 15 different reasons why, things like your goal is weight loss or one you don’t really want to do or your motivation is negativity. Out of the 15 the one that caught my eye was “you don’t have a plan.”
“You don’t have a plan.” How often have people told me that they want to grow more in the Lord, become more like Jesus, become more fervent in their faith or worship. I wonder what response I would get if I asked them if they had a “plan” to accomplish their goals? Too often our spiritual goals are vague. We kind of know where we want to go, but have no plan to get there.
God is a planner. He set His goal and then made a plan to get there. It says so right in Ephesians 1. “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will….” (vs 11 NIV]
God purposed by His will to save His people and He made a plan to do just that. If we want to be more like Jesus, more fervent and mature in our faith or worship, shouldn’t we also have a plan? More on that tomorrow.
