Here's the Plan

When I was a boy we lived in the Washington DC area and my father worked downtown for the government.  Three or four times each summer he would announce that he was going to take my brother and me to a Washington Senators baseball game.  Before he left for work, he would let us know that he had a plan.  The plan was that when he came home,  we would eat supper and go to the game.  We would either drive to the ball park or to the streetcar station and catch a ride, then see the game.   My Dad made a promise and it involved a plan.   The plan involved how we were going to get there and what we were going to do.  Most promises have plans.

In Jeremish 29:1-14 we see God making a promise to the people of Israel (vs. 10) to bring them back to the promised land.  His promise included a plan:  "For I know the plans I have for you...they are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope."  God's plans for all believers are plans for good.(Rom. 8:28)  You may feel like the Israelites, that you are in exile and forgotten by God, but He has plans for you.  He is on your side!("If God is for us, who can be against us?  Rom. 8:31b)  The good He has for you includes a future.  As you read ahead in that Jeremiah passage, you see that the future involves prayer.  God Himself is in our future!  He wants an intimate personal relationship with us, in which we call on Him and seek Him.  We have received the Holy Spirit as a down payment on an eternity with Him.  His Spirit helps us now in that relationship.(Rom. 8:26--oh well, just go ahead and read Romans 8:18-39)  The person of God is always in our future.  Whatever we must go through, we will go through it with Him.  Our hope is to be in this relationship forever.  It is good to think of heaven as beautiful sunsets, amazing music, and constant euphoria, but the greatest thing about it is having loving relationships with others and most importantly with God Himself.

I have heard it said that everyone, in order to be mentally  healthy needs three things:  1)Something to do;  2)Someone to love; and 3)Something to look forward to.   If we will trust His promises, He will lead us into His plans which involve a wonderful relationship.  Even now, but even more so in heaven, we will have a job to do(that we love), Christ and others to love, and a firm assurance that there is always something good in our future.