Having a Plan

Written June 1998, revised March 2017 — “You are complete in Him” (Colossians 2:10).

“Even as the architect’s model is planned, prepared and completed in his office, so the perfect pattern of the life of holy service, for which Jesus has redeemed and called us, is now in Him in heaven. But now it must be formed in us and transferred to our earthly lives, and this is the work of the Holy Spirit.” — A.B. Simpson, Days of Heaven on Earth

Our architect completed the plans for our home. Working with these plans, even the measurements of distance between a pipe and a drain, the contractors relayed the plan to each member of the work teams. As the basement crew worked, they had to follow the plan — the depth of the exterior drainage as well as the height of the walls and placement values between them.

Without a completed plan, any and all the work would be off-scale and affect the whole. One miscalculation, one ‘doing it my way,’ second-guessing the architect, would make for a lop-sided house in the end. Yet while there are specifics, certain choices are interrelated within the whole. Even where a light fixture goes affects the laying of insulation.

So much of this is a metaphor for life. God has the blueprint and it’s His way that completes the finished product. The Holy Spirit works according to the divine plan and each decision we make affects the progress and the whole work. All choices are interrelated, even those minor, non-eternal ones, for we are whole persons and God has designed us so.

May I continually and faithfully look to Him and seek the Master design, making the right choices for a life that pleases God — “complete in Him.” ~ALC