This is Not Plan B

Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Matthew 25:34 (HCSB)

Many people in the world have the misconception that Eve messed up the plan God had for us. There may even be some who think we would still be in the Garden of Eden if she had not taken a bite from that fruit.  However, Eve did not wreck God’s plans.  I will discuss why we know that is true in a bit, but I want us to think about this misconception first.  You may think this misunderstanding doesn’t really mean much, but there are some important implications to believing this lie.

One thing implied by this misconception is that humans have the power to hinder God’s plans.  We don’t.  God is far too powerful for that.  Thinking we can throw a monkey wrench into God’s plans is simply giving us too much credit.  Job had it right when he replied to God saying, “I know that You can do anything and no plan of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2)  Later, we will see why Eve did not mess up His plans.

Another thing implied by the misconception that Eve messed up God’s plans is that God did not see it coming.  That is not true.  God knew mankind would sin and would need to be saved from those sins.  The Bible tells us He had a plan to save us from our sins before He even created the world.  Paul tells us:

⁴For He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love ⁵He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself.
Ephesians 1:4-5 (HCSB)

Before God even created the world, He knew we would need to be adopted back as His children through Jesus Christ.  God knew man was too weak to resist sin.  I am sure he knew Adam and Eve would sin since no person is strong enough to resist the attraction of sin.  Because He knew this, He planned for Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price of our sins before He even made us.  Wow, that is love!  God wanted us to be able to enjoy Him so much that the Father and the Son were willing to pay that price.

Some people think that since God knew Adam and Eve would fall to sin and since He placed the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil right there in front of them that God was setting them up for failure.  That is true in a sense but false in another.  It is true that God placing them in the Garden with the tree did guarantee them to fall victim to sin.  While this is true, God had already planned to pay the price for their mistake before He put them there.  It is kind of like having a teacher giving her students a VERY hard test on purpose.  The students fail the test horribly.  However, after she grades the tests and informs the students of their grades, she turns around and retakes the test herself and gives each student a 100% on the test.  While it is true that Adam and Eve failed the test, they still got to be 100% pure in the end because Jesus took the test too and passed it for them.

God’s plan for mankind was made before the creation of the world and before Adam and Eve’s sin.  That sin did not change His plan one bit.  The Heavenly Kingdom awaiting all Christians was planned before they sinned and even before this creation was made.

Gifts Eternal

As I am trying to get good deals on Christmas gifts for my kids and my wife, I wanted to take a minute and reflect on gifts in general.  Yes, it is fun to open up that new tablet, new camera, or new 70” television.  But, these things only give us pleasure for a short while.  It is good to give the people you love things which make them happy and show them you care about them, but we need to keep these things in the proper perspective.  It is also good to receive gifts.  However, we cannot let these short lived pleasures take our eyes off the gift God has planned for all Christians.

I have been thinking about Heaven much more since I wrote a book about it last year.  That experience really helped me gain an eternal perspective on life.  I still slip into short term thinking quite often, but I am getting better about thinking about the eternal impacts of my daily choices.  Thinking about the treasure of Heaven really helps when I am having “one of those days.”  So, this shopping season I have been reflecting on the differences between the gifts we give one another and the gifts God gives to us.

The most basic of the gifts God gave us is creation itself; without which we of course would not be around to appreciate anything God has to offer.  But more than that, He went far beyond what was required to keep us alive on this planet when He created the universe.  He created a vast cosmos which boggles our minds and which we can admire.  He created this earth with such beauty and majesty when he could have created everything in shades of gray.  We would have been perfectly functional if gray were all we could see.  We might have had shape-lights instead of red-lights but we would have managed just fine.  However, He wanted us to enjoy His creation and so He gave us the gift of seeing the beautiful colors which He created.  With this gift we can admire the stunning colors of a butterfly, the incredible shades of red and pink in the sunset, and the thousands of different types of flowers.  God went way beyond what we needed in the gift of creation.

No list of gifts from God would be complete without listing the gift of Jesus.  We in no way deserved for the Son of God to die to solve our problems, but He wanted to do it.  Even though this was something extremely hard to do, it brought Him joy to give this gift to us: “who for the joy set before him endured the cross.” (Heb 12:2 NIV)  Yes, the gift of salvation cost Jesus dearly, but He gladly paid that price to give it to us.  Jesus’ sacrifice could have made it possible for us to be with God as his slaves or servants and that would have still been a great blessing.  But, God went far beyond what we needed with this gift and actually adopts us as His children and makes us co-heirs with Christ. (Gal 4:7, Rom 8:17)  Once again He gave us much more than what we needed.

There are many other blessings and gifts which God gives to us.  I could not possibly list them all, but I do want to help us focus on the gift, or the prize, for which we are all striving as Christians.  We need to constantly keep in the forefront of our minds the eternal gift of Heaven which God is preparing for us.  No amount of mega-television sets, tablets, iPhones, or whatever can compare to what awaits each of us.  We may think we are going way beyond what is needed in a gift we give to someone.  But, no matter how extravagant the gift, the happiness it brings will fade with time.  “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36)  God is the only one who can truly meet our needs and even exceed them.

I am not saying we should not give gifts to each other (wife, did you catch that?).  I am merely saying we need to keep the gifts we give in perspective and give them for the same reasons God gives us gifts.  God’s gifts are all to enable us to have a relationship with Him and to help others do the same.  When we give a gift we should not expect the gift itself to work some miracle.  But, we should be focusing on how that gift will affect our relationship with the person we are giving it to.  The enjoyment of the gift will fade, but that relationship can last for all eternity.

While we are out fighting the crowds or online at home looking for that great deal on the perfect gift, we have to remember we cannot ever buy a perfect gift.  God is the only one who can give those.  It is good for us to give gifts to each other to show we care for each other.  However, we can only give things which may give temporary happiness.  That happiness will fade.  Only God can give gifts which give joy and happiness for all eternity.  Thank you God for this beautiful creation, the undeserved gift of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, and the other blessings we have in this life.  But, most of all, thank you for the gift of Heaven which you have planned for us.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 (NIV)

Heavenly Attitude

I came to a realization the other day while cutting the grass.  I should point out here that I do not particularly like cutting grass.  Actually, I pretty much have always hated it.  Simply having vegetation which holds my yard in place is pretty much sufficient for me.  If it is green vegetation, that is just a bonus.  However, my neighbors would not be very happy if I maintained my lawn this way.  So to maintain neighborly relations, I was cutting the grass.  While I was doing it this particular time, I was thinking about something I often tell my kids: Your attitude makes all the difference in whether you enjoy or hate doing something.

While I was cutting the grass, I started to think about how much I would rather be doing something else and started to have a bad attitude about the task at hand.  I knew if I looked at cutting the grass with a different perspective then I would be able to better enjoy the task.  I started thanking God for even having a yard with grass.  I thanked Him for my house and my family who lives there with me.   I went on to thank Him for many other things related to the house or the yard.  This change in perspective helped me to have a much better attitude about cutting the grass.

The concept that your attitude affects your enjoyment of what you are doing was not the realization that struck me that day.  I have known the importance of having a good attitude for many years.  It is something I continually try to impress upon my children and to practice myself.  I just have a hard time actually maintaining that good attitude all the time.  Two people can go through the same situation and one can hate it while the other can love it.  The difference in their level of enjoyment is purely based on their attitudes.  The same is true for upcoming events and whether you will view it with dread or fear.

A good example of how attitude affects your anticipation of an event happened in our house very recently.  A new school year just started.  We had one child who was extremely excited about the school year.  The other was fearful about many things and mostly dreaded it.  One chose to focus on the positive aspects and the other on the negative aspects and it totally shaped their attitudes about the upcoming event.  The one with the better attitude was able to look forward to and enjoy the first day of school.  Seeing how they approached this situation helped to emphasize that no matter what you are doing the better your attitude is toward that thing the more you will enjoy it.

The realization I had while cutting the grass was that our attitudes in Heaven will always be perfect.  Most people believe that in Heaven we will live in constant joy and I believe this to be true as well.  I cannot think of anything in the Bible which proves or disproves this belief.  But, it is hard to imagine having anything other than joy while being in the presence of God.  As we have seen, it is impossible to have joy with the wrong attitude.  Whatever we happen to be doing in Heaven we will have the best possible attitude about it.  This will lead us to receive the most enjoyment possible from whatever we are doing.  Of course, there is much more to Heaven than simply having the right attitude.  (You can read my book on Heaven (Heaven: Harps Optional) to see what I mean.)  It will certainly be easier in Heaven to have a good attitude since there will be no sickness or death.  However, even during this life, we can see how our attitude affects our enjoyment of any situation.  If Heaven is filled with joy, it must also be filled with people with awesome attitudes.

The closer we are to having the best possible attitude in this life, the closer we are to experiencing a little piece of Heaven right here.  When you find yourself upset about having to do something, try and change your perspective and your attitude to be more positive.  We cannot always do this of course but the more we attempt it the easier it becomes.  It may even become a habit if you work at it hard enough.  After it has been a habit long enough, it will simply be your character to have a positive attitude.  You will simply be that person who always has a good attitude and who people wish to be around.  That is what I am striving for but I have a long way to go.

There may or may not be grass in Heaven.  If there is, I highly doubt we will need to cut it.   But if we do, it will be with a huge smile on our faces.  Until I reach Heaven, I will be working at having a smile on my face as much as possible.