Maybe you've heard this...

"Jesus has a great plan for your life!"

How many of you have heard this statement before?  I believe it is a uniquely American perspective.  However, I do not believe that it is God's perspective.

Am I saying that God has a miserable plan for your life?  No.

I am saying that following Jesus is hard.  His "great plans," if we are truly willing to obey Him fully, include our pruning, refining, the wilderness (at times), and many more trials and tribulations than we bargained for.

I have experienced that the "great life" is more an inner job than outer blessings.  The life of Christ, via His Holy Spirit, comes to live inside our hearts when we receive Christ as our personal Savior.  Now, if we pay attention to Him, our interests have changed.  

The accomplishments of this world don't matter as much to us, and if they still do, the Lord has ways of changing the course of our lives so that we are not anywhere near accomplishing what the world deems as a "successful" life.

I've been reading and studying the Bible for over 30 years now.  Every single person chosen by God in it suffered in one way or another.  God's "great plans" for them usually included ostracizing, rejection, prison, being disowned by family, being misunderstood, persecution, and sometimes, even death.  Still want God's great plan for your life?

The average American Christian will tell you that God wants to bless them financially, give them lots of worldly goodies so they can have a healthy self-esteem, and that because He is good, He would not want them to suffer.

How we got to this point, God only knows!

They say you attract more flies with honey than with vinegar.  But people aren't flies.  They are eternal souls in need of God's saving grace.  And if we lie to these people - tell them that becoming a Christian is going to be a bed of roses without any thorns - we are doing more harm than good.  

No one likes or wants to suffer.  That is a given.

But neither are we usually taught that suffering is a part of life - Christian or not.  So when we experience it, our minds will try to figure out why it is happening to us. 

Suffering for Christ's sake may seem senseless in the world's eyes.  But it is precious to God.  Why?  Because in our trials and tribulations, if we let Christ do His work in us, we become more like Jesus.

As Christians, we go against the norm - the accepted, ever-shifting "morals" of the day.  Our worldview is unchanging, and therefore will always buck up against the fad of the day.  We will, or should, stand out as different in this way.  When "everyone" is doing it - whether living out of wedlock, or what have you - Christians do not (or at least should not).  

The world has many negative judgments on this - we're old-fashioned, we don't "get with the times," we're prudish, etc.

However, we answer to God Almighty.  They have made up their own, pitiful rules and set themselves up as gods of their lives.  But in the end, that just doesn't cut it.

Following Christ involves a plan so huge that our finite minds cannot comprehend all that it involves.  Our "light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison," according to 2 Corinthians 4:17.

That is another perk of being born again.  Our perspective shifts from temporal to eternal.  Any suffering we do for Christ - follow Him into the darkest of situations to shine His light, allow ourselves to be rejected and mistreated (don't cave in just to "fit in" or not "make waves") - is temporary.  It will end one day.

And it is the Last Day - the climax and ultimate End - that interests us more.  Oh we're still in the here and now, don't be mistaken.  We're not living a "pie in the sky" existence just waiting for the Rapture.  But we know that this life is not the last one.  We look forward to eternal rewards that will never perish or fade.  We look forward to our deliverance and resurrection.  We have true hope for our glorious future.

That is the ultimate great plan God has for our lives as Christians.  Eternity spent in His glorious Presence!  This flash of a life is only a prelude to all that is to come.  Won't you join Jesus and leave all the rest behind that amounts to nothing anyway?  Be all in with the Lord!  Yes, I'm here to tell you that you will suffer for following Jesus.  But He is so worth it!!!  And You have His beautiful Presence with you always - you will never be or feel alone again.

Dear, precious Lord.  Thank You that you consider us worthy of suffering.  For Your greatest chosen ones all suffered for their faith in You.  They were looking forward to a greater Day, knowing that this life will one day end.  Help us endure every trial and tribulation, every persecution and wilderness, as part of Your truly great plan for our lives.  Give us Your grace and power to endure and pass each and every test that You send our way.  Use each trial, test, and tribulation that we face to transform us more into Your image.  Thank You, Lord, for both the here and now, and our glorious future with You!  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.