By Not Known
At this time of year many of us are planning. Corporate bodies and public
organisations look into the new year with a clear sense of what they want to
achieve. We, like other churches, seek to be responsible stewards of the gospel
by having a ministy plan to help achieve God’s kingdom goals
The Bible tells us that it is good to plan (Luk 14:28-31) but that all our plans are
subject to God’s will (Jas 4: 13- 16; Pro 16: 1& 3). Our planning echoes the nature
of God who plans from eternity to eternity, but our planning must be done within
his sovereign will and plans.
Our personal planning is often amateurish. Perhaps we make a few new year
resolutions which are broken and forgotten as quickly as they were made. Or
perhaps our personal planning has a limited focus on goals limited to health,
wealth and career
Today’s Bible passages challenge our personal planning
For starters, consider the description of Jesus’ development, which echoed that
of Samuel (Luk 2:40&52; 1 Sam 2:26). Jesus grew in all dimensions of his
humanity, consistent with God’s call that we should love him with all our heart
soul, mind and body and love our neighbour.
This challenges us to move beyond health, wealth and career in our plans for
2007. What are you planning to do to help your growth in your intellectual life;
your emotional life; your relationships with family, friends, colleagues, strangers
and enemies? What are you doing to promote your growth in your knowledge of
God, knowledge about God, Christian character and Christian service?
Our evening passage challenges about the time frame of our personal planning (2
Cor 4:16 – 5:10). It is good to plan with time horizons such as 1 ,5, 10 years, as
these markers keep our planning focused. However, eternity is the horizon that
ultimately matters in our planning.
The Christian’s ultimate goal is to spend eternity in God’s presence (Phil 3:8-11)
To achieve that goal we must now push all distractions aside, put our faith in
Jesus and press on with a life of persevering discipleship (Phil 3:12-14)
Let’s be God-centred in our personal planning. Let’s plan to spend eternity with
God and to love God and our neighbour in the present.