I am reading When Life and Beliefs Collide by Carolyn Custis James. I have been reading it for the past week or so, but that is only because I only have like a precious half hour (or less) a day to read. Sometimes not even that. I am only on Chapter 6 of the book now and so far I have really enjoyed the book. After I complete it, I will post a review. This book definitely deserves it. But today, I wanted to leave you with an excerpt from the book. It spoke to me on so many levels. I was amazed at God's faithfulness that he would lead me to read it on a day when I really needed to hear that message.
Each Christian is on a personal journey with God. Those who believe that God has a plan for them sometimes encounter another problem-the conviction that they have lost God's best plan for them. We know the feeling. Somewhere along the line, we zigged when we should have zagged, and now we are hopelessly stuck with Plan B. It only takes a foolish youthful decision, a missed opportunity, interference of someone else in our lives, or our sin, and Plan A is gone forever.
But if God is sovereign, then Plan B is a myth. No matter how dark things look to us, or how big the mess we are in, we are in Plan A. God's plan for us is intact, proceeding exactly as he intended, neither behind, nor ahead, but right on schedule. Nothing, not our sins, failures, disappointments, bad decisions, sins of others against us can deter a sovereign God from accomplishing his purposes.
If the realities of a sinful world and the failings of sinful hearts can deter his progress, then there is littel hope for any of us.
But if God is sovereign, then Plan B is a myth. No matter how dark things look to us, or how big the mess we are in, we are in Plan A. God's plan for us is intact, proceeding exactly as he intended, neither behind, nor ahead, but right on schedule. Nothing, not our sins, failures, disappointments, bad decisions, sins of others against us can deter a sovereign God from accomplishing his purposes.
If the realities of a sinful world and the failings of sinful hearts can deter his progress, then there is littel hope for any of us.
Our obedience is always flawed, our best efforts are never enough.
4 comments:
Hmmm. Having trouble commenting on anybody's blog today, but I'll go ahead and try you, too. ;)
I read your post just before going to prayer meeting last night, and something one of the brother prayed reminded me of it!
He was praying for various ones with illnesses and mentioned how disease is a result of the fall -- a "plan B" if you will. But God has also designed our bodies to heal from disease, so that even a supposed "plan B" is within His sovereignty and all part of Plan A.
(He didn't use the terms Plan A & B -- I altered that :)
To me, God's plan for our lives is not mysterious - He has told us what it is, very clearly: to conform us to the likeness of Christ. There's no way to miss the boat on that - no way to get a B-version of it: God has promised to complete the good work that He has begun in us.
Honestly, I can't be in total agreement with that because it seems as if it takes free will out of the picture. I believe that there is God's best for us, and then there's what we give him to work with. By that I mean that we may have missed the boat on The Best, but he can still accomplish his purposes with What We Give Him. I hope that makes sense. I'm not talking about his ability to know the entire course of our lives; I'm talking about the could-have-beens that he knows we wouldn't take but it would have been best for us if we had.
I doubt that there is anyone who has followed what would have been God's absolute best for us, other than Christ. Sin will always enter the picture, but a sovereign God will still accomplish his purpose through us when we're obedient to him in the here and now. We may have veered off course for a bit in the past through poor choices, but we have today to be obedient to his will.
I hope what I'm trying to convey here makes sense.
I desparately need to find this book and read it!!!
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