Did you make plans for 2020? I did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of Covid 19 and the subsequent lockdown the careful plans I made have all come to nothing. It has made me really aware that we can make plans but they can vanish in a moment.
We all like to look forward to happy times, perhaps visiting friends and relations or enjoying a holiday in the sun. Some plan for a wedding, a special birthday or the birth of a child. If we own a business we have to forecast for the future.
The truth is that we can never be sure that our plans will happen. Life is uncertain. We can be here today and gone tomorrow.
The Word of God, the Bible, has a lot to say about our approach to making plans and the Plan that God has made.
Jesus told this parable about a man who thought he would plan his retirement, thinking he would be able to enjoy himself for many years.
” And he told them a parable, saying,\u00a0\u201cThe land of a rich man produced plentifully,\u00a0and he thought to himself,\u00a0\u2018What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?\u2019\u00a0\u00a0And he said, \u2018I will do this: I will tear down my\u00a0barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.\u00a0\u00a0And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up\u00a0for many years; relax,\u00a0eat, drink, be merry.\u2019\u00a0\u00a0But God said to him,\u00a0\u2018Fool!\u00a0This night\u00a0your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared,\u00a0whose will they be?” So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.\u00a0 (Luke 12: 16-21)
The apostle James reminds us that all we plan is if God wills, “God willing.” We should always bear this in mind when we are making our plans.We don’t know what God has in store for us in our lives now.
James writes, “Come now, you who say,\u00a0\u201cToday or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit\u201d\u2014\u00a0yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For\u00a0you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.\u00a0Instead you ought to say,\u00a0\u201cIf the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.\u201d\u00a0James 4:13-15
“And he (Jesus) said to his disciples,\u00a0\u201cTherefore I tell you,\u00a0do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on.\u00a0\u00a0For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.\u00a0Of how much more value are you than the birds!\u00a0\u00a0And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his\u00a0span of life?\u00a0If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?\u00a0\u00a0Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you,\u00a0even Solomon (King of Israel) in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.\u00a0But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you,\u00a0O you of little faith. And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor\u00a0be worried.\u00a0For\u00a0all the nations of the world seek after these things, and\u00a0your Father knows that you need them.\u00a0\u00a0Instead,\u00a0seek\u00a0his\u00a0kingdom,\u00a0and these things will be added to you.
Fear not, little\u00a0flock, for\u00a0it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you\u00a0the kingdom.” (Luke 12: 22-32)
In the passage above Jesus is telling us not to be anxious about our day to day lives because God cares for all His creation. But for those who truly believe in God and the Saviour, Jesus, His Son, God, from the beginning of creation, has a wonderful Plan of everlasting life in His Kingdom when Jesus returns to the earth.
\u00a0\u201cFor\u00a0God so loved\u00a0the world,\u00a0that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not\u00a0perish but have eternal life.\u00a0For\u00a0God did not send his Son into the world\u00a0to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”(John 3:16-17)
We believe what the Bible says, that God will send Jesus back to this earth soon to put an end to sorrow and pain. Peace, truth and righteousness will reign.
Isaiah 51:11 “And the ransomed of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and\u00a0sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”
…..”Even so, come Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)
Quotes NKJV and ESV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"