Plans

One of the things I have noticed about church programs is that we often make our plans and ask God to bless those plans.  This happens a lot in urban ministry.  We see a need that needs to be met, and we formulate plans about how to meet that need.  The modern era is largely based on the premise that humans can make progress on our own... that we do not need God.  We like to think that we do not believe that as Christians, but how often do our actions reflect that worldview?  It is very common for Christians, individually and coporately, to plan and arrange for things to be the way we want them to be.  When we fail to pay attention to how culture impacts us, then we get lost in the tides of modernism or postmodernism (a common worldview which also sends the message that God is in many ways irrelevant to humans).

So how can we follow Jesus and live out a purposeful life without making a bunch of plans and working hard to achieve goals by our own efforts?  By understanding that all plans are God's plans.  When we become a Christian, we die to our selves and find our everything in Christ.  We must figure out how God is moving, and immerse ourselves in God's Story.  Henry Blackaby writes, "God wants us to align our lives with Him so He will accomplish His divine purposes in and through us.  God is not our servant to bless our plans and desires.  He is our Lord, and we must adjust our lives to what he is doing and to the ways He chooses to accomplish His work.  If we will not submit to God and His ways, He will allow us to follow our own devices.  But be sure of this:  we will miss God's activity, and we will not experience what God wants to do through us to bless others.  As Christians, it is not only important what we do but how we do it." - Experiencing God

When we orient ourselves in God's plans, then we are always on the right track.  When we make our own plans and ask God to bless the plans, then we are off track.  This life is not about us, no matter what message the world may try to put out there.  This life is all about God, and how we can serve Him.  We probably need to remind ourselves of that every single day.  I, for one, can very easily lose sight of why I'm here and just what it is that I'm supposed to be doing day in and day out.