I sat down with my college adviser the summer before I started at Kansas State University and we wrote out a three-year plan toward graduation. I began my freshman year knowing exactly what was required to earn my B.A. in English literature. In fact, I had a requirements chart hanging up in my dorm room, and I filled in the blanks as I completed classes. I know that’s weird, but I like knowing where I am on the map. My ideal post-college plan went something like this: get a great job, get married, buy a house, have kids, raise those kids well, then retire and enjoy life until I die of old age. It’s the American Dream, right? I’m only two years out and some of those things didn’t happen like I expected. Something changed when I woke up to the gospel, the good news that Christ lived the perfect life I cannot live and died the death I don’t want to die, freeing me from the bondage of sin and bringing me justified before God … not because of what I have done, but because of what He has done for me.
Suddenly the things I once treasured are mere trifles. God’s plan for me doesn’t require climbing the corporate ladder and coasting into eternity with 5,000 Facebook friends, a collection of rare postage stamps, and a padded savings account. Could you imagine being face-to-face with God after a life like that? “Lord! I was the youngest VP in my company and everyone loved me! My children are inheriting millions of dollars, and did you see my stamp collection? Those babies are rare … one-of-a-kind!” I have a feeling God would not be impressed.
If you follow Jesus, God calls you to something bigger, something better. But here’s the catch: the world will think you’re crazy. The way you live your life won’t make any sense. Read what Paul told the Corinthian church in his first letter:
Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something. (1 Corinthians 1:27-28, HCSB)
God will call people who aren’t born as kings or princesses. He will use ordinary people to do extraordinary things. God will use things the world considers to be meaningless and undesirable to bring about something good. Consider the disciples. There was nothing special about them. Even Jesus was born in the most humble of circumstances and grew up the Son of a carpenter. Read Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 3:9-11:
We are God’s coworkers. You are God’s field, God’s building. According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, and another builds on it. But each one must be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any other foundation than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.
After Jesus’ resurrection, He left his followers with a command known as the Great Commission, to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; teaching them to obey everything He has commanded. Not every Christian will be called into foreign missions, but God calls us to make His name famous wherever we are. Whether you are a bank teller, teacher, stay-at-home mom, plumber, engineer, artist … God wants you to tell others about Him and what He has done through Christ.
God’s Plan Session 2 of FLYTE will answer the question: “What is God’s Plan for Me?” Preteens will explore the Bible story of Esther and consider the world’s idea of a life plan before they come together to form a biblical worldview, answering the question for themselves.
