God has a plan for our lives, and His plan for us never changes. No matter what we do or how we change as individuals, His plan is written in His Book of Life. We are not puppets that move about as He moves the strings, and He didn’t create us to be robots. Romans 8:16(NLT) tells us, “For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children.” We are His kids, and as we would expect from any mother or father, a good parent will always want the best for their children. Sometimes we think we know what is best for us. Because of this, many of us step out of God’s plan for our lives. We miss out on the blessings that are tied to fulfilling His requirements. Life will sour, and sometimes very quickly, when we do this. It’s a mistake that can and should be avoided.
Ephesians 1:11(NLT) informs us that, “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” This means that even before we entered our mother’s wombs, God chose us. We were in His heart long before we came to the earth. God is our Creator, and He gave us a destiny in Christ and planned for our future. Everything that God has purposed for us is never to cause us harm. It is to strengthen and help us transform into the image of Christ, His beloved Son and our Big Brother. Christ is God’s blueprint for humanity, so we must trust His plan and purpose for us and pursue it with all that we are.
Nothing about us is a mistake, and all the people that have influenced or been involved in our lives have had some part to play, whether good or bad. We count on our family, friends, and other loved ones to be in our corners, but for whatever reason, some people in our lives may have let us down. Relationships were injured or severed, and we may be holding resentment and bitterness in our hearts for the person and the situation they caused. We must be humble enough to accept the reality that God’s purpose for us is to be a conduit of His love and introduce His healing into the situation. God’s love expressed through our faith in Him is what everyone around us is longing to see.
We are laying tracks for those whose eyes are on us, and make no mistakes, eyes of those we may not even know are watching our every move. What we do matters. People are looking at what makes us tick. Whether or not we are aware, they are hungering to see the hope of Christ in us. Romans 5:5 tells us that this hope that is in Christ does not disappoint. When we trust God through Jesus Christ and believe in who God has made us through His Son, the heft of this truth is deposited deep within; it is the only thing that is real. Hope in Christ is drenched in God’s love, and it is the way we leave a lasting imprint on others. Although they may not admit it or know how to articulate it, even the individuals that have disappointed us are longing to see the hope of Christ expressed through our faith and love.
The Holy Spirit will cause all kinds of meaningful opportunities to come our way, and we shouldn’t be surprised when those opportunities bring certain individuals across our paths, even if it is only briefly. We may be confronted with a chance to have a conversation. If this happens, we need to begin preparing for this opportunity now, so we are ready to do the work God has purposed us to do. Pray that God will do a work in your heart through the Holy Spirit, and that when you have the blessing of doing God’s work, He will give you the words to say in order to usher in His healing.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
“There’s Always Someone Watching”, written by V Mack, edited by Reverend Fran Mack for Springfield Fellowship, Inc.©2021. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!
Opmerkingen