The Plan, Boss, the Plan

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.  — Proverbs 19:21

How many people have a purpose?  Lots of us have plans.  We make retirement plans, contingency plans, emergency plans, investment plans, college plans, wedding plans, travel plans — there is a plan for nearly everything.  A plan generally has an objective built into it.  But with all of our plans, are we going any place in particular?

I have been to the beach.  Back in the '90s, I once spent two or three days on Galveston Island feeding mosquitoes.  This confirmed my earlier assessment that the beach is good for about half an hour.  Along the Gulf Coast and in Southern California, it is sand and salt water.  Up in Rhode Island, it's rocks and salt water.  It is beautiful.  I have seen it.  I am glad I went.  I might go back, especially to ride along the roads on the coast, cross the bridges, stop now and then to drink a cup of coffee and look out over the vast expanse of the sea.  Some people have a purpose in going to the beach — getting a tan, surfing, swimming, fishing, having a clam-bake, playing volleyball, looking at pretty girls, getting drunk, or all of the above.  Since I am not going to be doing any of those things at the beach, I might have a plan to go, but I don't have a purpose.  Beyond the half-hour of walking around looking at rocks or starfish, I am bored. 

Given that there are many places to go other than the beach, my lack of purpose with regard to it is no a big deal.  If, however, I have no purpose in life, I may find myself getting worn down with the drugdery, the repetitiveness, the stresses of life.  I make plans for life, but none of my plans work out the way I expect.  Even when everything goes the way it is supposed to — according to my plan, I find myself dissatisfied and discontent.  Existence, as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, is empty, vain, and pointless.  This is a sign that I have missed, ignored, or turned away from — not my purpose but God's purpose for me. 

We are free to take a tactical approach to life.  I say, for example, that I would like to have a good job, so I study hard in school, learn something useful, develop a skill that might impress an employer.  I get more or less the kind of job that I want.  I buy a few things that I need or think I need.  I find a spouse that seems to suit me.  We get a place to live and some more stuff we need or think we need, raise a family, take vacations now and then.  One day, someone asks me about my plans, and I say that I am saving up for retirement or to pay for college for the kids.  My questioner asks, "And then what?"  I reply that there will be recreation and grandkids someday.  The questioner asks, "And then what?"  To every one of my tactical plans, the same question is raised:  And then what?

Without understanding on some level, the beauty and the grace of purpose, we will, in the end, be stumped by life.  If it is just procreation, what of those who do not procreate?  In fact, we are more than gene-machines.  Is there good that can be done, a purpose to be wrung from life that transcends the bars of bone and jars of clay? 

There is nothing wrong with having a plan, so long as we are not too invested in it,  and we understand going in the limitations of our intentions.  A person's plan can never cover the 'why' of life, only the 'how' — and even that can turn unexpectedly.  Jesus laid it out for us in the Sermon on the Mount.  He commanded us to "take no thought", to never be anxious or overwhelmed by fears of the future, nor are we to spend much time figuring out how to get what we need.  The Lord offered us a grand and glorious over-all strategy.  We see is as we pray, "Our Father in heaven ... Your kingdom come, Your will be done...".  Our purpose is not our own, and it is not of the world:  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, ... lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven ... For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also (Matthew 6:19-21).

Let God's purpose write your plans. 

Refinement

Sin was sort of the topic on One Cosmos yesterday and it got me thinking. Heinlein’s character Lazarus Long says, “Sin lies only in hurting other people unnecessarily. All other ‘sins’ are invented nonsense. (Hurting yourself is not sinful -- just stupid).” It is very much a libertarian sentiment, and one I understand. But it’s wrong. It is not just the “unwise” that is prohibited.

The Judeo-Christian definition of sin always involves God. If you are a materialist, atheist or agnostic, nothing I say from this point forward is going to make much sense to you. You can feel free to stick with Heinlein’s definition.

We all know the story of David and Bathsheba. They have made movies about it. Preachers love to expound on it in sermons. David committed adultery with the wife of one of his warriors then tried to cover it up when the woman told him she was with child. David brought her husband, Uriah, in from the battlefield and tried to get him to go to his wife. Uriah, a man of honor and valor, refused to sleep in his own bed because his fellow warriors remained in the field.

In desperation, David sent a note to his warlord, Joab, to put Uriah in the thickest of the battle, then fall back so Uriah would be killed. The wronged man was so trustworthy that David sent the sealed message back in Uriah’s possession. Joab did as he was ordered. Uriah died and David married the widow.

Nathan was a seer, a prophet for the royal court, but he knew nothing of David’s evil deeds. The Lord came by His Spirit and revealed the truth to the prophet who went to David and told him an allegorical story. When David reacted in anger at the evil done by a rich man against a poor man, Nathan boldly pointed his finger at the king and said, “You are the man!”

To David’s credit he repented of his wrong. The child Bathsheba carried died and David would suffer other grief in his life because of this horrible wrong-doing.

Let’s see who was adversely impacted by David’s evil behavior: certainly Uriah, Bathsheba – even though she seemed a relatively willing participant, the child who died, Joab who was made an accomplice to murder, and in many ways he betrayed the trust of his warriors and his subjects. You might expect a long apology to all involved from the king. Yet, when you read David’s confession known as Psalm 51, you find something interesting. He mentions none of the people he wronged. Instead, speaking to the Lord, David says, “Against You – You alone – I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight.”

If you want a simple, foolproof definition of sin, I have it for you: sin is the stuff God would not do.

To the extent that I am a child of God, that I share His nature and have His light in my life, I won’t do it either. On those occasions when I do something God would not do, I deny my identity and my paternity. My sin proclaims within the spiritual realm that God is not my Father. It doesn’t matter if it is adultery and murder or just ogling chicks and cussing my neighbor under my breath. In the Real world of the Spirit, it is a out and out denial of who I am.

Look at the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus tells us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. God illuminates the world through believers. Acting contrary to God’s nature is like hiding the light under a basket – it isn’t worth much to anybody. He goes on to tell us how overt sins are bad but that they begin in the heart. Jesus Himself was pure and sinless. He had no problem with being the Light of the World. When people saw Jesus, they saw God. In a very real way, when Jesus saw people, no matter how far down they were, He saw God in them as well. The Father wants to see Himself in us, clear and perfect.

He tells us to be like our Father in all things. “You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous ... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:43-48)

How can the Bible tell us to be perfect like our Father in heaven? Who can be perfect? For one thing the word often translated as perfect has the meaning of mature. Be grown up even as your Father is grown up. Be fully your destiny and purpose just as the Father is His Destiny. Or just Be as your Father Is.

Beyond that we are perfect in Christ. Once the work of the Cross was completed and Jesus said, “It is finished”, it was finished. For all time, all souls can be fully sons of God if they are willing.

But sin says, “Not really.” Sin warps the mirror of my soul so that the image of God within is distorted. Thus David was right. He hurt a lot of people but his sin was denying and distorting the reflection of God in himself.

“As long as I am not hurting anybody else,” does not cut it. That view says the spiritual is fiction. In the only life that is real, we need purity and God loves us too much not to keep the fire hot until the dross is all gone.