Just where am I in God's plan? I don't mean to say that I feel left out, or that I wonder where God is in my life (those are musings for another time). What I mean is, am I where God wants me to be? How do I know? If I'm not content, is that God calling me, or the Enemy?
Contentment is a tricky thing. There is a fine line between contentment and complacency. We are to learn to be content whatever our circumstances, as Paul says in Philippians 4:11, and are to realize there is great gain in contentment, as he told Timothy in I Timothy 6:6. On the other hand, he wrote in I Corinthians chapter 9 about how life is like running a race, or a boxing match (with ourselves), a contest in which we strive for a prize. That's anything but complacency.
So if I'm not sure I'm where God wants me to be, if I don't know if I'm doing what God wants me to do, am I to be content with that? I don't think so. Hebrews 3:7 says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." In other words, if God's talking to you, LISTEN!
How do I know God's plan for me?
I don't. Jeremiah 29:11 reads, "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." God knows His plan. We don't.
Romans 12:2 says that we are to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing, and perfect will. So somewhere in there is the key. Paul doesn't tell the Romans that they will be able to know God's plan, but he does tell them they will be able to test and approve God's will. In other words, if we have our heads on straight, we'll be able to know if we're doing what God wants us to do.
How do we do that? How do we get our heads on straight? If we go up to Romans 12:1, we see that we offer ourselves as living sacrifices to God. We do everything, and give everything, as an offering to Him. Verse 2 says that we should not conform any longer to the pattern of this world . . . but be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Give everything to God. Don't do what the world says you should do. Listen to the One who matters.
At that point, we test and approve where we are and what we are doing against the idea of offering our entire life as a sacrifice to God. If they match, we've got a winner! If not, we better start listening, and stop hardening our hearts.
I wonder how the 12 Apostles felt.
James and John had an apparently successful fishing business (successful enough to have at least two hired men), and they walked away from it to follow Jesus. Matthew (Levi) was doing well as a tax collector (even if people hated him), and he left it all to follow Christ. We don't know what all of the disciples did for a living, but we do know they all left their former lives behind and followed what mattered.
What was it, other than the voice of Jesus, that convinced them? Honestly, I think that was it. Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. How many did Jesus call to who didn't listen? That number is still growing today.
I don't want my name added to that list. I want to be like James and John who, though they were good and successful at what they were doing, knew when something better came along. Not something better only in this world, but for eternity.
Whatever God's plan is for me, I know this: It has a lot more to do with eternity than it does with tomorrow.
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