When my daughter woke up on the day which changed all of our lives, it started pretty much like every other day. She felt a bit dizzy. She checked her temperature, but she didn’t have a fever. Yet, as the day wore on, a strange novocain numbness began its terrifying creep up her left side.
A brain stem lesion wasn’t in her plan as a young wife and mother of small children.
The second Friday of January is coined, “Quitter’s Day.”
I figure there must be a million reasons most people with good intentions throw out their New Year’s resolutions before the end of the first month. In fact, if truth be known, over a third of people who make resolutions never really expect to follow through on them.
After all, didn’t James, the brother of Jesus, who wrote the book of James, warn us about the plans we make? Rather than saying, “I’m going today or tomorrow to such and such a place for so and so long, and make a bunch of money…,” James instructs us to consider some major factors. (Emphasis mine taken from James 4:13-17)
“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” (James 4:15-16 ESV)
Our pastor recently spoke on this passage. He pointed out that James’ point was not to squash planners or to elevate the more spontaneous. Rather, James gives us the grid through which we should view our plans and carry them out.
Unanticipated events ahead are where Quitter’s Day and reality often collide. For underlying the truth of James’s admonition is a deeper truth. And it changes our how’s and why’s.
Plans are made for God’s glory, not our own.
“If the Lord will, we shall live and do this, or that.” (James 4:15 KJV )
For you see, our very breath comes from Him.
Plans are made for God’s glory, not our own. Share on XJames begins in the first chapter by laying a solid foundation to steadfastness, the antithesis of quitting. He reminds us that God honors the heart that is submitted to Him. And his whole book of balancing faith and works hinges on unquenchable faith, the kind which doesn’t quit. It’s rooted in trust which never gives up.
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” (James 1:2-4 ESV)
Steadfastness means constancy and endurance. It is characteristic of one who does not give up. It is in the very DNA of the person who won’t quit.
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12 ESV)
Our daughter swung between life and death for a very long time. I would love to report that I flew through my daughter’s staying on earth or leaving us for heaven, on the wings of unshakable faith. But honestly, every day felt worse than the day before, and the testing was severe.
Yet, in the agonizing ebb and flow, the lessons of God’s goodness within His sovereign plans had never been sweeter or more precious.
Some plans really are made to be broken. And in truth many of the promises we make as we look to the months ahead may not be worth keeping. They may be our plans and not God’s.
For the plans we make as Christ followers should put Him at the center and core. We serve and honor a Sovereign God first. He gives what He knows to be right and good, even when it messes with what we have laid out differently.
You may have passed quitter’s day with great joy, promise, and excitement. Goals set still look to be on a track and within reach. You may have even lost weight.The plans we make as Christ followers should put Him at the center and core. Share on X
Or, you might be clinging to the truth of James’ encouragement despite a shaky beginning.
It is in yielding our plans to Him that we recognize He truly does all things well even though our eyes can’t yet see it.
Quitters? We are steadfast through the power of Christ in us. Through Him we plow ahead and know that “if the Lord wills, we will live and move forward to accomplish His will.”
Christ, as core of everything we do, is a really good plan.
Tony Vanderlaan
ThankYou Sylvia for these words of encouragement. God’s plans are often not ours. We trust and pray for her as she continues to serve her Lord and Saviour.