This one could be a little scary. For me, I mean. Not really for you. Or God!
Here we go: God's Plan for You!
God knows a few things that I don't. Nonetheless, I'm going to take a crack at this.
God knows that no matter what happens to you in this life, as long as you come through to God in the next, God can make anything bad you went through here all better. God suspects that after a few million years of bliss, you'll probably get over any lingering bad feelings stemming from that incident in 5th grade that scarred you for your blip of a mortal life. A bit "big" of God, perhaps, to look at it like that - but try putting yourself in those infinite shoes, and see how it looks to you!
Now, God isn't going to force anybody to come to God. I'm not going to get into the mechanisms dealing with those who make the radical choice against God. I will leave that to the crowd with large, painstakingly-lettered placards telling us (and telling God) who God has to God-damn for what. I'll will leave them to that.
I say all the above, just to get hell out of the way up front. Too many people seem to act like hell is the focus of this life: avoiding it, or presuming to put others into it. Too many Christians act more enthusiastic about the damnation of others than their own salvation.
For me it suffices to say: God is merciful. There are plenty of people in great pain who make mad, bad choices, and I hope and believe in God's mercy for all lost souls. I'm sad to say that there are other souls out there who appear to be not particularly lost, who appear to hate humanity and hate God with a single-minded will. I don't believe even these are beyond redemption! But I have to believe that if they reject it to the very last chance, it won't be forced upon them. I'll let go and trust God in every case. Like I have a choice! Ahem.
But I do have a choice, really, in everything! Most especially in who I am. God doesn't force anything upon us. We do have free will. It is said that we are created in God's image - this doesn't mean God is a hairy biped, necessarily. It means that, unique among all creatures, we are created creators. We have a task in creation - to a far greater degree than other species, we can understand and unlock it, and we were meant to. But that is neither our most important nor our most creative task. Out chief creative task on this earth is to create our selves.
We are born with certain raw materials. We are set down in a certain time and place, we begin with a certain circumstance. And to start, that is what we have to work with. But from there, the entire palette of experience and action and choice and expression is ours to use, to the extent we choose, to the extent we can. Every choice we make and every action we take creates who we are. We can build high, we can tear down, uncreate and try to start afresh. We decide what to believe and who to love, what is right and where we were wrong. We allow ourselves to be guided by what is highest in us - and surely the grace of God is a pull from above, that helps keep us on our feet, that helps keep our thoughts training upward.
But that upwards pull doesn't place our road before us. Our road is the entire surface of the earth. God's plan for the earth, and God's reason for putting you here, is you. God only wants to get YOU, out of this - out of your life. God's only wish for you is to see you embrace this gift you were given, and use it to create who you are. That self you freely choose to be is the gift you give back. God doesn't care where you go to college, or who you marry, or whether you catch or drop that touchdown pass. I'm sure God does feel - can I say uplifted? - when God sees that you pursue whatever course you choose, always in the consciousness that you are able to act as God's hand on earth. Being the living instrument of God's peace, God's mercy, God's forgiveness. Nobody walks around like that 90% of the time, but hopefully, we do respond to that upwards pull - and it guides our hearts in the way we act, as our feet pick their way forward.
Why God found all this necessary is an open mystery. Some say God just wanted to share. God found Godself with an ability to create infinite wonders, and created us to join in. Every mind is a miracle, every self is a thing of unique beauty and wonder. I'm filled with joy in the world and love for the beautiful, sad, crazy, driven, funny, heroic human beings I share it with. To me, it seems like no great mystery why God might want us around - exactly as we are. Exactly as we are making ourselves to be.
I have a back-up theory that as glorious as they are as singers - arrayed in angelic choirs and such, singing their everlasting, ever-changing, ever-loving hymn - I have a theory that the angels were kind of boring conversationalists. If so, we humans can more than pick up the slack on that.
So to sum up, all I am saying is: don't obsess over God's plan for you. Don't stop yourself in front of every big decision: "What is God's plan for which road I should choose, here?" God's plan does not involve having you sit down, take dictation from God, and then go out and execute tasks as laid out. God does not want you to go one way or the other. God doesn't want you to do this over that. God just wants you. You: created, and then self-created. The only person who can give you to God, the way God wants you - is you. So don't ask God the way to God's plan. You aren't on the way to God's plan. You are God's plan.
Life is a gift, a gift given freely, there really aren't any strings attached (leaving gravity aside). Life is a gift, and you should give yourself fully to it. The only thing God wants from your life is you. Make of yourself, in the time you are here, the best gift to God you can. You have the whole world in front of you.
What's your plan?
Here we go: God's Plan for You!
God knows a few things that I don't. Nonetheless, I'm going to take a crack at this.
God knows that no matter what happens to you in this life, as long as you come through to God in the next, God can make anything bad you went through here all better. God suspects that after a few million years of bliss, you'll probably get over any lingering bad feelings stemming from that incident in 5th grade that scarred you for your blip of a mortal life. A bit "big" of God, perhaps, to look at it like that - but try putting yourself in those infinite shoes, and see how it looks to you!
Now, God isn't going to force anybody to come to God. I'm not going to get into the mechanisms dealing with those who make the radical choice against God. I will leave that to the crowd with large, painstakingly-lettered placards telling us (and telling God) who God has to God-damn for what. I'll will leave them to that.
I say all the above, just to get hell out of the way up front. Too many people seem to act like hell is the focus of this life: avoiding it, or presuming to put others into it. Too many Christians act more enthusiastic about the damnation of others than their own salvation.
For me it suffices to say: God is merciful. There are plenty of people in great pain who make mad, bad choices, and I hope and believe in God's mercy for all lost souls. I'm sad to say that there are other souls out there who appear to be not particularly lost, who appear to hate humanity and hate God with a single-minded will. I don't believe even these are beyond redemption! But I have to believe that if they reject it to the very last chance, it won't be forced upon them. I'll let go and trust God in every case. Like I have a choice! Ahem.
But I do have a choice, really, in everything! Most especially in who I am. God doesn't force anything upon us. We do have free will. It is said that we are created in God's image - this doesn't mean God is a hairy biped, necessarily. It means that, unique among all creatures, we are created creators. We have a task in creation - to a far greater degree than other species, we can understand and unlock it, and we were meant to. But that is neither our most important nor our most creative task. Out chief creative task on this earth is to create our selves.
We are born with certain raw materials. We are set down in a certain time and place, we begin with a certain circumstance. And to start, that is what we have to work with. But from there, the entire palette of experience and action and choice and expression is ours to use, to the extent we choose, to the extent we can. Every choice we make and every action we take creates who we are. We can build high, we can tear down, uncreate and try to start afresh. We decide what to believe and who to love, what is right and where we were wrong. We allow ourselves to be guided by what is highest in us - and surely the grace of God is a pull from above, that helps keep us on our feet, that helps keep our thoughts training upward.
But that upwards pull doesn't place our road before us. Our road is the entire surface of the earth. God's plan for the earth, and God's reason for putting you here, is you. God only wants to get YOU, out of this - out of your life. God's only wish for you is to see you embrace this gift you were given, and use it to create who you are. That self you freely choose to be is the gift you give back. God doesn't care where you go to college, or who you marry, or whether you catch or drop that touchdown pass. I'm sure God does feel - can I say uplifted? - when God sees that you pursue whatever course you choose, always in the consciousness that you are able to act as God's hand on earth. Being the living instrument of God's peace, God's mercy, God's forgiveness. Nobody walks around like that 90% of the time, but hopefully, we do respond to that upwards pull - and it guides our hearts in the way we act, as our feet pick their way forward.
Why God found all this necessary is an open mystery. Some say God just wanted to share. God found Godself with an ability to create infinite wonders, and created us to join in. Every mind is a miracle, every self is a thing of unique beauty and wonder. I'm filled with joy in the world and love for the beautiful, sad, crazy, driven, funny, heroic human beings I share it with. To me, it seems like no great mystery why God might want us around - exactly as we are. Exactly as we are making ourselves to be.
I have a back-up theory that as glorious as they are as singers - arrayed in angelic choirs and such, singing their everlasting, ever-changing, ever-loving hymn - I have a theory that the angels were kind of boring conversationalists. If so, we humans can more than pick up the slack on that.
So to sum up, all I am saying is: don't obsess over God's plan for you. Don't stop yourself in front of every big decision: "What is God's plan for which road I should choose, here?" God's plan does not involve having you sit down, take dictation from God, and then go out and execute tasks as laid out. God does not want you to go one way or the other. God doesn't want you to do this over that. God just wants you. You: created, and then self-created. The only person who can give you to God, the way God wants you - is you. So don't ask God the way to God's plan. You aren't on the way to God's plan. You are God's plan.
Life is a gift, a gift given freely, there really aren't any strings attached (leaving gravity aside). Life is a gift, and you should give yourself fully to it. The only thing God wants from your life is you. Make of yourself, in the time you are here, the best gift to God you can. You have the whole world in front of you.
What's your plan?
ON NEXT WEEK'S GOD BLOG SUNDAY: God Vs. Evidence
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