For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬, ‭13‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Knowing God’s plan for you isn’t the guessing game it often seems.

First, we can know it will all amount to a good outcome. How it will unfold though is usually the scary part.

“For I know” isn’t “For you know,” probably because if we knew how it is to unfold, we might lose trust and not invest in it, fighting against the unknown.

Isn’t that what we do?

Even when the God of the universe offers to take charge, we think our way is better.

Admitting it is your first step.

The second is verse 13. Seek him with all your heart, find, and follow him.

Discovery of his plan for you need not be a guessing game. 

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭24‬:‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It’s been said that every man has a God shaped hole in his heart he longs to fill.

He’ll squeeze in all sorts of things looking for the perfect fit only to find, like a Cinderella slipper, nothing fits quite like the real thing.

That was God’s plan from the start.

We are given a heart to know him.

When we choose to be his people, he chooses to be our god, with all the perks and fringe.

You will leave on many journeys all your life, but only one takes you home. The return trip.

Come home. 

This is what the Lord says:

Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong boast of their strength or the rich boast of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the Lord.”

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭9‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Modesty was once the rule of polite society.

While others might occasionally compliment our strengths or abilities, rarely would you find one obnoxiously boasting of his own achievements.

Wisdom informs us that our greatest strengths, however, pale in significance to the one who endows us with them.

Beauty, wealth, strength or courage are finite and temporary gifts, easily lost and faded over time.

1 Corinthians 1:31: Therefore, just as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

To have achieved the knowledge of God, his nature and purpose is a far greater human attribute for those who dare living beyond the temporal.

Those whose vision remains clouded by the present experience a finite world without God and without ability to imagine their potential self worth as anything beyond present assets and abilities.

Breaking down the implications of this verse isn’t really the heady subject it may seem.

But there are so many lost in the cult of self-love and aggrandizement, fed by heaping helpings of likes and follows, particularly in social media.

Their value is dangerously limited by how well they can leverage the gift over the giver, missing the bigger picture and the point entirely.

This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.

But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Making smart choices isn’t hard.

In fact, the payoffs are often immediate, if not only for the conscience, but also the outcomes.

Nothing beats feeling smarter than a fifth grader and advancing your best interests as a result.

We’re presented crossroads every day, but rather than choosing what we know will bring about confidence, we engage in inner arguments that yearn to take us off course.

The struggle is real.

We learned at a very young age from Jiminy Cricket: “Always let your conscience be your guide. What’s a conscience? I’ll tell ya…A conscience is that still small voice people don’t listen to. And that’s the trouble with the world today…”

Consciences have consequences.

It matters to whom you listen.

Yesterday afternoon making conversation with a homeless man at church, I asked how his day went.

His reply was profound.

“Another day closer,” he said.

I didn’t expect such optimism.

Here’s a guy living on the streets, no home, no car, no money, no job or food, who I’ve spoken with and tried to help countless Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, who’s moving through this world and every one of his days is another day closer to something.

I suppose I should have asked the next obvious question but I was silenced by his response and immediately preoccupied with my own answer to the same question.

At the end of the day,

to what am I another day closer?

He’d already gone inside for the free dinner we serve attendees at Celebrate Recovery, leaving me alone at dusk, searching my own insides for the best answer to that next obvious question.

Ask yourself.

What on your horizon is calling you another day closer?

To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The “J” word.

No other utterance throws up walls and defenses quite like it.

I believe it’s not because they don’t believe in J, it’s because J means change.

J means they’re no longer in charge. J means they can’t keep living in gray areas because absolutes exist. J means following instead of leading. J means submission and self denial.

I believe it’s not unbelief holding them back. It’s pride in self, love of self, and the desire to maintain self-direction itself that creates such resistance and the kind of impermeable hard shell finish that’s offended by anything J.

It’s easy to get discouraged when trying to reach these people with the message of J, but remember P and his conversion on the r to D.

Nobody in their wildest dream ever imagined such a thing. But—the word of hope and possibility—J imagined what could happen and it was so.

Be of good cheer.
Jesus overcomes. 

But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Some call it being bold, others call it caring enough about the souls of others destined to hell for all eternity.

In the end it is both.

Fearing what exactly to say or how to say it, we let souls slip through our fingers every day.

Possessing personal faith in the redeeming power of God and the gruesome truth of the fate of others without the same, our obligation to share the gospel is crystal clear.

No excuses.

God provides the people, the words, and the outcomes.

Our fears of being ineffective or being written off as fanatical are exactly what God rescues us from.

Deeply rooted faith begats courage, and courage begats obedience to act boldly on your mission.

You see, this is not at all about you, it’s all about them.

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58‬:‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

How you live your life, where you choose to spend your time, money, and unique skills, all indicate the condition of your heart and the trajectory of your spiritual life.

Like the orientation of a compass, the human heart is guided by a worldly magnetic force that invariably sets its course on evil unless it deliberately and intentionally subjects itself to a path of spiritual good.

All too easily, forces in this world work against our best intentions to draw us to a course away from God and his redemptive power.

Life doesn’t just happen to us, it’s the aggregation of choices we make to go with the flow or to swim against it.

And when resistance works against you—just like in bodybuilding—there’s strength and growth and change

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58‬:‭9‬-‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It’s always time for a change of direction and orientation.

Choose that path every day while you still can. 

The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭57‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NIV‬‬

At some point, righteous individuals may be taken away through death to spare them from future evil or suffering. The passage conveys a sense of comfort that their departure from this life protects them from impending troubles.

To be entirely honest, this is sounding more and more like a pretty good deal as hits the fan these days in a continual onslaught of worldwide evil.

Where do I sign up?

But coming back to my senses, this world stage is fertile ground for good people willing to share truth and the word of God with those still perishing.

Jesus didn’t waste time searching for an easy exit.

Following Jesus keeps us in play to the very end, whenever that comes.

If some are chosen to be taken early, I trust that’s for better reasons than I won’t know in this life but in the one to come.

Keep me in the game, Coach!

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

And I would expect nothing less.

Truth be told, im not the brightest crayon in the box and this life is far too complex to navigate alone without an experienced guide.

Lacking omniscience leaves me at distinct disadvantage in most scenarios.

When Jesus said he will never leave me nor forsake me (Hebrews 13:5) it was not without condition. Trusting in and listening for directions and cues from God is a spiritual discipline.

“I did it my way” can pack a punch of initiative but it’s insufficient carry-on to get you to your destination.