“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NLT)
Do you know why God’s plans for you don’t always come to fruition? Essentially for the same reason not all people will go to heaven – freedom of choice. We must want for ourselves what God wants for us. God is a gentleman and will not force His will upon us.
Because God is good, kind, caring, and has all these loving and aspiring attributes, He naturally wants us to know, love, and follow Him. Why? Because He knows if we’ll listen and obey Him, our lives will be fruitful, full, and flowing with good that naturally comes from His blessing in and on our life. Everyone faces troubles, heartaches, guilt, sadness, and a thousand other things, but they’re so much easier to handle with the Lord’s help.
Think of the Children of Israel standing on the threshold of a brand-new life in a brand-new land (to them). All their parents, and they as children, had known prior to their deliverance from Egypt was slavery and now they’re standing at the beginning of a life they couldn’t have imagined. And as they ponder all that will be required of them, God gives them a choice, the same choice He gives you and me today.
In Deuteronomy 30:15-18 God says: “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep His commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in the His ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.”
And please don’t misunderstand, God isn’t calling us or challenging us to become limp rags that just let the winds of others’ opinions drive us in all directions. No, no, no! These Israelites weren’t simply going to waltz into the land of Canaan and the current occupants scatter in all directions. They had a fight ahead of them and many of them would die in the process.
That’s the battle we face as Jesus followers. He doesn’t just call us to life alone, He calls us to death. And until and unless we’re willing to offer our lives to Him as a living sacrifice, we’ve chosen death. Death is inevitable, life is an option we must choose. And, like the Israelites, He’s calling us to war.
As long as our bodies have life, as believers in Jesus, we’re at war with the enemy of our soul and war has casualties. One of the primary things that needs to die in us is our demand to have our own way. The Lord will not force us to follow His directives, but we will never find our “promised land” of opportunity to be all He’s calling us to be until we die to self and determine to let His will be our own.
Whatever we may profess, in terms of Christian Faith, it’s valueless unless and until we allow our wills to be wed with God’s. A strong-willed child of God is an oxymoron. Only to the extent our wills are conformed to the will of God will we find the peace, contentment, joy, and satisfaction in our walk with Him that He longs to give us.
And don’t misunderstand. This decision isn’t once and done, it’s a moment-by-moment decision. What is your choice in THIS moment? And the NEXT? And the NEXT?
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 