God's Plan Or Ours?

In my experience, church people use one of two approaches in religious work. The first approach is what I call, "We plan it; God blesses it." In this approach, essentially we say to God, "We'll figure it out for you." Whatever it is, we assume that we can come up with the best possible plan. Whether it's building a church building, growing a church, developing a mission outreach, saving souls, or whatever, we come to a point wherein we believe we know what's best. Then, when God sees our effort, God will bless our hard work and commitment. (Churches built on a complex committee structure love this approach.)

The second approach is the, "God plans it; we obey it," approach. This begins with asking, "God, what do you want? What are you doing, and how do we need to support it? What do you want us to do, or what do you want us to be?" When we discern answers, then our response is, "Here I am; send me." Many find this approach to be harder and scarier. It feels out of our control. God's plan might not coincide with the will of our congregation's or our organization's majority. The process to get to a specific direction might be messy, and it might not follow a predictable timeline.

How might human beings have planned the arrival of the one called "the Messiah" - God's anointed one? I doubt if any self respecting planning committee would have come up with, "I know. Let's have God be a poor baby of an unwed mother, born in a barn."

So how's your life's plan going? Which approach are you using? Is it God's plan or yours?

We don't plan rivers. We just follow their flow, and try to stay in the mainstream of Someone else's plan. I'll see you around the next bend.