God Has a Plan

Now that's something to think about, isn't it?.To be a believer in Jesus Christ is to believe in the God who holds all things together in this universe. We believe in the one God who has all things under His own control. He permits evil to run a certain course, but has also provided a plan to rid all creation of that evil, and to redeem all who have called on Him for help and mercy.

God loved the people of earth enough to give up His own beloved Son, so that anyone at all who believes in Him will have not perish but will have life forever. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn us but to save the world. Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned, and whoever does not believe is already condemned because they've not yet trusted in the name of Jesus Christ.In fact there is absolutely no other name under heaven that has been given to anyone whereby a human being may be saved.

To believe in Jesus Christ is to believe in the God who loves all people, and to trust in the Judge who provides us with a way out of judgment. Jesus Christ came down to us knowing full well that we would soon reject Him and kill Him. He came down to us not to enjoy the pleasures of this world, or the happiness of mortal existence as a human being, but to become one of us in order to save us all — whoever should trust in Him. And He was soon rejected, after only a few years of public teaching and healing. We put Him to death, just as He knew we would.But He did not struggle against that death or fight to preserve His own life. He laid down His perfect, sinless life, and endured the shame, the mockery, the agony and the dying itself in order to pay for our sin, to bear it away, and to make a way for everyone who trusts in God.

We may argue about theological details and the meanings of words, but no one who trusts in God can argue away what Jesus has done for us.He suffered under the wrath of God for the sinners who populate this weary planet. He bore our sins in His own body on the cross. He died a sacrificial death as an unblemished lamb provided by God in our stead. And the death of Jesus Christ on the cross took away our sins once and for all time. Whoever trusts in Him becomes eternally blameless, above all reproach, for there is no more sin to be imputed to them.

To be a believer in Jesus Christ is to believe that God has a plan, a very great plan. We believe in the God who knows all things, and who prepares all things, and makes all things work together for the good of those who belong to Him. He has a plan for every human life on this earth, and His plan unfolds each day without interruption. We are either a part of God's plan for the damned, the condemned, those who do not trust in Jesus Christ, or we're part of God's plan for the redeemed, those who are blessed forever, those who will live in the very Presence and joy of God for all eternity.

God has a plan for my life and for your life. If we trust in Jesus Christ the plan of God is to one day perfect us in every way. We will be perfectly blessed with joy, with perfect health, with perfect knowledge and wisdom, with perfect hearts and minds forever. We walk today learning how to be holy, but one day we will be complete, made perfect in holiness. We learn obedience today by the things we endure, and we learn faith by trusting God in every kind of difficulty and testing. But one day we will awaken to a perfect faith, knowing without any reservations that God is truly and infinitely righteous, good, and fair.Today we may have many questions hard to answer -- maybe impossible to answer -- as pilgrims walking this earth. But one day we will know as now we are known by the Lord. We will understand all things then, and our strange pathway in this life will all make perfect sense. That age will know and understand this age, but this age can only look to that age with hope & expectation in faith. Someday that which is perfect will overtake all that still lacks perfection today.God has been faithful in every age to do whatever He has promised to do.

He has unfolded His plan in wonderful ways, showing His love for human beings, His great grace, and His unfailing mercies to everyone who turns to Him in faith. The Lord rejects no one who dares to hope in His mercy and goodness. The Lord delights to forgive, and to wash clean, and to make right. And He will one day make all things right forever.In the same way that Jesus walked along, from town to town, making right anyone who was willing to be touched by Him, so also God will make all of heaven and earth right before Him forever. And there will be no more sin, no more weakness, no more fear, no more sickness, no more hunger or suffering of any kind. The children who died unloved in this generation and in the evil generations before us will rest in the very arms of God Himself, for He is a true Father to the fatherless, and He is the Protector and Provider of widows and orphans.

To believe in Jesus is to know the God who never forgets anything except the sins that have been confessed to Him and rejected by the sinner. Whoever loves their sin will partake of the fruit of that sin, but whoever hates evil and loves God will be filled with righteousness, sealed in mercy and kept forever by the God of our salvation. The Lord will not remember their sins on the day when they appear before Him, but He will reward them for the grace of God that has worked in them and through them.King David and a host of others in Scripture have rejoiced, saying, "God is the Rock of my salvation!" And the Lord truly is the high and solid rock of safety for all who trust in Jesus. The Lord keeps all who are His, and provides for their every need. And whatever they have lacked in this life is made up for, a thousand million fold, in the life (that true and endless life) which is yet to come.

A day dawns soon. It is the day of eternity, the day without end, the day that has no setting sun or scorching heat ever again. Already the eastern sky grows brighter. Already I hear music that is not of this world. Soon, my brothers and sisters, very soon we will see the Light of God face to face. We will behold with our eyes — our own eyes! — the perfect Lamb of God that has taken away the sins of the world. In the dawning of that day we will finally walk on streets made of a gold that we've only imagined before. At long last we will understand angels, and heaven, and eternity, and all things. We will behold the stars and galaxies — and every universe there is anywhere — from a different vantage point.

To believe in Jesus Christ is to have a hold on a sure hope. And that hope is a little different for each believer, for we tend to shape our hopes according to the difficulties we endure right now. All God's children have shoes. No more aches and pain. No more separation from loved ones who've gone on before us. No more suffering or evil. But the one hope we all possess is the certainty of being with Jesus. For He said, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; so that where I am, there you may be also." (see John's Gospel, chapter 14).Wherever Jesus is today, at the right hand of the Father, and seated with Him in the heavenlies, is where we will also be forever. The Lord Jesus will return for us — for whoever has this hope in Him — and He will takes us to the place that is prepared for us. And there we will be with Him forever.God has a rich and wonderful plan.

Never forget that His plan is much, much bigger than whatever we may face today. And He will bring His plan to a perfect completion. As the Lord told Israel through Moses, "If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you." (from Deuteronomy, chap 30)David wrote this, "The LORD redeems the soul of His servants, and none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned." (from Psalm 34)The many promises of God are recorded in Scripture -- in the Bible -- and much of His great plan is revealed there also. As we read in faith the pages of Holy Scripture our hearts are renewed in hope. Whoever believes in Jesus has many wonderful treasures prepared for them in the pages of the Bible. We do well to give it our full attention.

As I look ahead and wonder about the future, I have no idea what to expect. I have hopes and some plans of my own. I have some goals and some deadlines to meet. But in all things, I know this single truth: God Himself has a plan for me. And in that perfect planning of God is my joy and my ultimate victory. I know this because Jesus has already come down to this earth, and has already died for me, and has already risen from the dead. He has ascended back into heaven and is now at the Father's right hand. And He sent a message by His servants to say that He is coming again soon. Everything is on track.Who knows? This could be the dawning of that great day.