Purpose

The Un-Plan

When I was younger we had this cool soda fountain glass that was inverted.

The wide part, which would normally be at the top, was at the bottom.

The skinny part, normally the base of the cup, was at the top.

On the cup was a 7-Up logo with their then tagline underneath “The Un-Cola.”

It was a pretty effective promotion. (After all, I still remember it and my parents kept the glass for years because it was so different.) The message was clear. Just like the cup was the opposite of what was expected, 7-Up was different from the expected dark cola soft drink.

Sometimes it feels like life is a lot like that glass.

It gets turn upside down, inside out, and every other which way.

Our expectations are scattered as life hands us the unexpected.

The familiar becomes foreign.

And just like 7-Up was “The Un-Cola,” we quickly realized that our carefully planned and organized lives are anything but.

Or are they?

Because although our plans may get inverted, God’s plans are still right side up.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we’d admit that we never really know what would happen anyways, so pretending that we are somehow able to plan for it was a delusion. What matters is whether our lives, as scattered or as jumbled as they may get, are being used by Him.

And as long as we are using our lives to be poured out for His purposes, we can be confident that our lives will be the real thing* – because our lives will reflect Him.

(*I suspect that my dad would have been one of the only people who would get this play on words. For many years, Coke’s slogan was “It’s The Real Thing.” I know my daddy would have loved that I knew that, and that I inserted it into this blog.)

Now it’s your turn….

How do you respond when God’s plans are different from yours?

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Purpose

Frustrating God’s Work

It is a serious thought that the disobedience of the men he had set free from blindness and leprosy should be able to hamper him in his work for his father. But his best friends, his lovers did the same. That he should be crucified was a horror to them; they would have made him a king, and ruined his father’s work. He preferred the cruelty of his enemies to the kindness of his friends. The former with evil intent wrought his father’s will; the latter with good intent would have frustrated it. –  George MacDonald (1824-1905), “The Displeasure of Jesus”, in Unspoken Sermons, Third Series, London: Longmans, Green, 1889, p. 190


It’s amazing the ill that good intentions can bring about.

After all, it’s not a common situation to hear of somebody who has asked for prayers that they might have the courage to do what God has called them to, only to be told by well-meaning Christians that perhaps that’s now what God wants for them.

  • Becoming an overseas missionary.
  • Leaving a promising career to pursue an unfamiliar field.
  • Evangelizing a stranger.

All uncomfortable and challenging situations, and all situations that God has used to accomplish much for His kingdom.

And yet, often when we hear of someone we love wanting to do these things, and perhaps struggling with their human desires to abdicate this call, their fellow believers, their spiritual family, may attempt to dissuade them.

Not because they don’t agree that these are good things, but because they don’t want someone they love to have to pay the price that so often accompanies them.

They are willing to sacrifice their loved ones’ eternal rewards, for their temporal comforts.

And while we can’t expect our feelings to be a reliable indication of what God has called us to do, and therefore it is often helpful to get the wisdom of mature believers, we also shouldn’t expect that every believer will always be able to look past the cost to us, in order to see the cause of Christ.

After all, His own disciples weren’t able to do this.

  • They didn’t want to see a crucifixion, they wanted to see a King.
  • They weren’t looking to be free from sin, they wanted to be free from political oppression.
  • They wanted a revolution, they got a resurrection.

And just like Christ’s didn’t let His friends frustrate God’s purpose for their lives, we shouldn’t let our friends either.

No matter how good intentioned they might be.

*Let me echo what I said earlier, that godly counsel is not only wise, it is biblical (Prov. 15:22) We do, however, need to make sure that the counsel we receive is biblical too; that are counselors are focused on what God wants, not their own desires.

Now it’s your turn….

  • What do you do when friends try to discourage you from doing what God’s called you?
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