Waiting and Planning

This past Sunday, looking at Mark 13:32-37, I made the point that Jesus Christ is calling us to live each and every single day of our lives with the following mentality: “Today could very well be my last day here on this earth before I stand before a holy and righteous God.”

Jesus, in Mark 13:32-37 essentially says, “Be on guard, keep awake because you don’t know when I’m coming back!”  Also, James, in James 4:13-17, admonishes us to not boast about tomorrow because we have absolutely no guarantee that we’ll even live to see tomorrow.  Instead, we “ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that’ (James 4:15).

For Christians especially, this shouldn’t produce fear in us, but rather a deep joy because, in the end, this is a clear reminder that our good, gracious, and loving master, who paid for our freedom with his blood, is coming back (1 Corinthians 6:20; Mark 13:34-36).  And because he’s coming back, we want to do everything to please our master and hear those glorious words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:21).

And so, this is a clear principle laid out in Scripture: live each day with the mentality that today could very well be the last day on this earth before we stand before a holy and righteous God.

But the question that inevitably comes up, then, is this:  “Does that mean that we don’t plan for the future?  Is it wrong to plan to go to college; to get a job; have a family; etc?”  Simple answer is no.

Though the Bible is clear that we should live our lives with this mentality (mentioned above), the Bible is also clear that we should plan as best as we can.  For example, the book of Proverbs is filled with practical advice about planning (e.g. Proverbs 3:29, 12:20, 15:22, 21:5, etc.).

And so the issue, then, isn’t “Do we plan at all?” – because the Bible is clear that we do.  But rather, “After I’ve planned, am I living each day with the mentality that says, ‘Today could very well be the last day here on this earth before I stand before a holy and righteous God?’”

In other words, do I plan with the clear understanding that God can call me even before I achieve those plans?  If not, then could it be that we’re living not “to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), but for our own?

May we live each day in anticipation of seeing our good, gracious, and loving master – who is infinitely more satisfying than even the biggest dreams that we plan.

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