We know we are made for something great. We humans were created in God’s image and restored through Christ in his perfect image.
God doesn’t have a plan for you.
He has a plan for your neighbor. And your highest honor is to be a part of it. Anything else would be too small of a thing for you, his people. “For those he saved are his delight, precious in his holy sight. For your life he bled and died; justice has been satisfied” (Christian Worship. Northwestern Publishing House, Waukesha, WI. 2021.813:2-3), and so it is too small of a thing for you to be only about yourself.
He has too much invested in you. Before the creation of the universe he knew you. Before you were born he loved you. Before you took your very first step he adored you. Then he fed you through farmers and grocers. He raised you through parents and family. He educated you through teachers. He clothed you, sheltered you, protected you, and he blessed you. He took on flesh for you, he lived righteously for you, he turned the other cheek for you, he suffered for you, then he died for you, he rose for you, he ascended for you, and now he rules for you.
And you didn’t deserve any of it. That’s not how love works. You can never earn love. It starts with this, this beautiful word from St. Paul, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:8-10).
Do you understand what he has done for you? Of course, God has a plan for you but that is because you are the neighbor to so many people whom God has called to love you. His plan for you is nothing more than this: that he would free you from sin and death and then be blessed by other people. And you could never repay it. Your parents, your teachers, all the people that made you who you are… you could never repay them. But that’s not the point. That’s not how love works.
But he isn’t done with you either. He has freed you from that insidious law that constantly judges you as a sinner. The truth is that you are righteous in Christ. And he also freed you from all those other laws out there that the world and that you, yourself, place upon yourself. These laws are the standards that you and I bow down to in the hope that one day we could be somebody. We beg for these laws to give us identity and love and dignity. But that something you and I chase after? It’s too small of a thing.
For the precious children of God to be judged by something so insignificant as salary – that’s too small of a thing. For the bearers of the image of God to chase after something so shallow as a promotion – that’s too small of a thing. For the ones redeemed by the God-Man to pine for something so pathetically tiny as a reward, some honor given by mere men – that is too small of a thing. That is too small a thing for you.
You are free. You are free from the law. It cannot accuse you anymore. You are the righteousness of God. You have been made to be something different. And so you are free to venture all things. Because your eternity is secure you can go. Go! Take chances. “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,” says Jesus, “for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matt. 6:34). Christ will hold you fast.
But did you listen? Did you hear Paul? You are not just free from: free from sin, free from judgment, free from death. You are not just free from; you are free for. You are free for life. But here is the thing about you and about me. We know we are made for something great. It is ingrained in us. How could we not feel this driving force? We humans were created in God’s image and restored through Christ in his perfect image. And think about all the effort he has put into us, all he has invested in us through those he called to love us, teachers and engineers, nurses and electricians. How could you not feel this overwhelming sense of importance?
But here is another thing about us. We still chase those elusive laws. We attempt to satisfy this insatiable desire for greatness with rewards that cannot quench the thirst. It is not money that tempts us, it is importance. It is not fame we pursue, it is honor. It is not cars and homes and businesses that we hunt. It is value. Whether we know it or not, we are chasing importance. But I will tell you what the world refuses to tell you. Not everybody gets to be an astronaut. And not everybody gets to be the CEO. And not everybody gets to be the quarterback of the Packers or the point guard for the Bucks. But in God’s eyes that doesn’t matter. Because he sees things differently. He does not have a plan for you. He has something so much better.
Did you listen? Did you hear Paul, you are God’s workmanship, his handiwork, he has molded you and formed you. For what? For good deeds he has prepared in advance for you to accomplish. And he couldn’t care less about what that pays or what worldly honor that brings. He cares about love. And he sees no difference, and neither should you, he sees no difference between the doctor and the garbage collector because they both do his work. His work for neighbor.
So make no mistake about it, whatever occupation you find yourself in, this is God working through you. Through fathers and mothers, through bus drivers and carpenters, through doctors and garbage collectors. And who cares how our silly world ranks these jobs? That is too shallow, So even if nobody else notices, even if you never feel appreciated in your work, God knows and you will know that this is divine work you do. And anything else is something less. It is too small of a thing for you to do anything less than his divine work of love.
Did you listen? Did you hear Paul? These things were prepared in advance for you. He knows that some of you will be preparing lesson plans for second-graders in four short years. He knows that some of you will be fixing some poor lady’s plumbing three years from now – and is there any greater act of love than that? And he knows that some of you will be creating jobs in your businesses ten years from now and some of you will be putting IVs in veins in a hospital room fifteen years from now. Some of you will be preaching and most of you will be mothering and fathering. And God will say to each and every one of you, “I need you. I need for this. I need you for your neighbor. In fact I have prepared this particular act of love for them, in this time and in this place. And I did it from the beginning of time.” God doesn’t have a plan for you. He has plan for your neighbor prepared in advance.
Did you listen? Did you hear Paul? God chooses to need you. You are his guy, you are his gal for this job, in this time and in this place. Don’t you understand how important you are? And anything else but this divine work, is too small of a thing. God doesn’t have a plan for you. He has a plan for your neighbor. And whatever it is you will do, it will be your highest honor.
