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We had a lovely sermon at church, the Book of James, the nature of planning, how our days are not promised. It was good stuff. And our reader board announced it all week with carefully laid out letters until the end where they would not fit because…..poor planning. Whether a happy accident or a moment of mischief, the irony, what is hidden on that reader board so often manages to capture the very nature of the problem.
Yep, that’s the church.
Full disclosure, I am a wounded and damaged planner, as in I have learned far too well the truth of the old adage, “Man plans and God laughs.” Too much planning on my part is sure to just create pre-emptive disappointment and frustration. I plan to spend time with the Lord everyday, and I plan to be at a few places during the week, but that’s the best I can manage.
However, I am keenly aware that this is no way to live, that at the very least we must have a dream, a long range vision of some kind, however vague. We need to look ahead at some future point and imagine where we would all like to be, and I am not just talking about heaven.
Somebody smart once taught me about Jesus in the temple, when He was lost and misplaced by His parents, when they finally found Him, He said, “Don’t you know I must be about my Father’s business??” That’s it exactly, that’s a concept I try to walk with. We are Sons, the inheritors of a kingdom, our job is to be about the Father’s business. So rather than planning out our entire lives and asking for the Lord’s blessing on it all, try figuring out what the Father is up to and see how you can join in with Him. “Thy will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.”
I really love that. The person who gave me those words was busy being about the Father’s business, because those were the exact words I needed to hear, that was the Holy Spirit talking to me, affirming what He had already been talking to me about.
Photo by Ella Olsson on Pexels.com
A lifestyle of “being about the Father’s business” is much to be desired – planned or unplanned. Thanks for this thought for my day.
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Thank you, Oneta.
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“rather than planning out our entire lives and asking for the Lord’s blessing on it all, try figuring out what the Father is up to
and see how you can join in with Him.”
This is the EXACT prescription for how believers are to live out the life of disciples, except for the “TRY figuring out” part.
Jesus did what He saw the Father doing. We are to live in like manner.
With the lame man at the beautiful gate, Peter took the cripple by the hand and lifted him up in Jesus’ name. He saw and knew what the Father was doing.
With the false prophet, Bar-Jesus, in Acts 11:6-12, Paul said… “And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.” And it happened. He saw and knew what was on God’s agenda.
There are other examples.
The problem is… to live out “the life” in like manner is costly, and “believers” today, especially in the west (myself included), want little if anything to do with counting the cost.
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Amen, well said! But rather than counting the cost, we’re actually supposed to consider it all joy, LOL! Always easier said than done. One of the hardest things for me, one of the things I have a great deal of trouble considering a joy, is slamming into lukewarm Christians, and facing their constant rejection, fear, avoidance, and disapproval, and eventually realizing they really can’t even hear, sense, or feel the Holy Spirit at all.
Going back to the book of James, the reason why these kind of people push my buttons so much is because I have unmet needs. Right? “You have not because you ask not.” Well, I really need some co-conspiriters, some fellow disciples in my life. Not that I am supposed to be content about non believers and lukewarm Christians, only that I am supposed to pay attention to how the Lord is plucking out my last bits of my need for people favor and approval, and teaching me to rely and trust only in Him instead. Then I can go right to Him with what I myself need specifically, and trust that He will indeed, place more solid Christians in my life when the time is right.
That’s my own story anyway and I’m sticking to it, as the song goes. 🙂
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Amen! I am a planner but … it must be about will of God and His Kingdom. Tough lessons for me most days.
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I know some ladies Michael, that have these color coded day planners, with tabs and colored highlighters, and I am laughing here, but I made the mistake of trying to fellowship with them, over our need for control, our desire for order, our struggles to surrender all and place ourselves in our Father’s hands. It’s a common struggle, nothing to be ashamed of, even a funny struggle sometimes! I kid you not, they all stared at me blankly, before actually getting up to sit at a different table. 🙂
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Now that is a hoot. I like to plan, but not at a great level of detail. I’m “what’s our goal” and how are we going to get there level. I’ve had project managers go way beyond the tabs and colored highlighters.
Great point about God’s will. That is the big deal.
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I have given in where planning is concerned because I know that God doesn’t limit himself to our timetables. He is very flexible Himself and doesn’t often keep the appointments we make for Him. When He has something to do He has something to do. When He wants us involved in His somethings to do. He does, Master of the Universe expect us to drop all else and make ourself available. The expression is ‘”Here I am Lord`
Our plans? Well we say `What man proposes, God deposes’
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I have been known to pray, “Whatcha doing Lord? Mind if I tag along?”
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Amen! I think I’ll snag that prayer too.😊
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A true wake-up call, in reality, IB–‘-we are to be about the Father’s business’…if that were our real impetus…we wouldn’t be having all this in-house fighting to start with and then Heaven’s knows what we could accomplish outside of “the house”…
great food for thought…
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