This is the season for planning. Carli and Whitney want to plan their vacations, hopefully to include snow and sun. Cherry is interested in the family schedule. Work would like to understand my action plan and deliverables for the next eighteen months. Everyone is looking for a sense of direction and action.
If I look at my list of people that I must answer, their need for plan boil down into three critical questions they want me to answer. Are my ideas for the future good ones? Can I really make them work? What do I believe will happen? Everyone is looking for to have his or her special and unique questions resolved. Unless I answer the three questions with a level of detail, the lingering doubts and fears will remain. Ironically, the foundation for each question lies in the approach to the present.
How am I approaching God? Are my ideas for the future good ones? Do I understand God’s ideas for the future? Are God’s ideas good ones for me? Can I really make the good ideas work? What do I think is going to happen?
Paul gives us a warning for the future based on the actions of people around him. “What happened was this: People knew God perfectly well, but when they didn’t treat him like God, refusing to worship him, they trivialized themselves into silliness and confusion so that there was neither sense nor direction left in their lives.” (Romans 1.21)
What is my view of God? Do I understand my approach to Him in the present? Do I believe God is a good idea? Do I understand how to make my relationship with Him work? What do I think is going to happen?
I believe that we must answer these questions, or at least begin the process. Unless we do, out current behavior will dictate the outcome to our plans. The risk to our identity and self is fundamental, central, and life threatening.
God loves us with a mysterious intensity. Responding to God as a God is the first step.
