Lately my husband and I have been talking about life plans, goals and ambition with our grown children. They’re all young adults moving at various stages along their own individual paths of independence. Each is considering various options for the future, pondering what comes next. I’m often in a state of denial about how old they are and how fast time has gone by. It’s comforting to know that the Lord loves them even more than I do.
One of my favorite scripture quotes is from Psalm 139; it speaks to God’s great love for me even before I was conceived: For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them (Psalm 139:13-16, ESV).
What an amazing thing, that God foreknew our existence. He not only had a plan to bring us into the world, but also knows every one of our days and even has a plan for our lives. It’s quite overwhelming and humbling to consider how God is simultaneously omniscient and all-powerful, but also such a personal God.
I’ve been pondering what it means to follow God’s plan and thinking about the messages we are trying to reinforce for our kids about goals, ambition and success. Are we representing God’s Word well on this issue? The world relentlessly delivers self-serving messages. Feel-good mantras abound, such as “be true to yourself,” “believe in yourself” and “follow your heart.” But these are actually quite contrary to scripture!
Jesus said in John 14:6 to believe in Him and His Word to know truth: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. God’s Word calls the heart deceitful above all things and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9), and Jesus calls us to deny ourselves and follow him! If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me (Mark 8:34).
God’s plan for everyone is to repent and accept His gift of salvation. In 1 Corinthians 10:31 the apostle Paul teaches that we should aim to glorify God in all we do: So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. In other words, ambition is fine as long as our primary goal is to seek God, serve and honor Him instead of trying to please the world or live for ourselves.
The world values wealth, status, power, beauty, comfort, and self-indulgence as very worthwhile goals. But God values our salvation, redemption, and relationship with Christ as more important than anything else. God calls us to live holy, righteous lives for His name’s sake (Psalm 23:3). When we walk with God and are filled with His Holy Spirit, we benefit from the fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and our minds and lives are transformed by becoming less worldly and more Christlike.
As parents, of course we want our kids to succeed in all they do; we’re very proud of them and look forward to watching them grow. It’s natural to encourage them, support their goals and celebrate their accomplishments. We continually ask God to protect them and direct their paths. We also pray they are well-equipped to consider all the world’s messages about achievement, status, self-indulgence, comfort and happiness in light of God’s word.
We believe that no matter how great their achievements are in this world, none will matter in the end without eternal salvation and a relationship with the Lord: For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? (Mark 8:35-36).
Having ambition and making plans is good, and God has granted us free will to decide any number of paths to take. As we do so, if we honor and obey Him in everything, we can trust Him to be with us along the way, intervening to sovereignly accomplish His will for us. Our paths will evolve and change as we grow and may become rather different than where we started, but we can trust that ultimately God’s good plans for us are much better than our best.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps (Proverbs 16:9).
Thinking about gaining the world but forfeiting my soul is usually what gets me when I feel cynical about trusting God’s good over my “best”…it can get repetitive seeing the phrase “just trust Him” everywhere, but there are real truths in the bible highlighting why we should; this is quite a solid compilation of them!
Amen, Alysa and Terry!
My pastor always says, “The joy of knowing Jesus is far greater than the cost of following Him.” There is a cost to the self-sacrificing life of faith, but the joy of living a life of purpose we were created for is so much greater. As a mother of young adults myself I relate with your struggle to model this life well for our kids. God bless.
Amen. Thank you Christine!
Such an important revelation! Daily offering up our ideals and opinions for those we love to Him who knows all things and perfects all things! Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
Thank-you Terry❤️ The Lord is so trustworthy and good!