Big Plans

God didn’t call me to do some huge, world-changing thing. Maybe He didn’t call you to do some huge thing either. DON’T TAKE THAT THE WRONG WAY.

I oftentimes feel like I’m not doing enough. When I hear that “God has big plans” for my life, I tend to think it actually means something crazy. Something like becoming a professional athlete and having a positive influence in that field, saving tons of starving children, publishing an award winning novel that brings people to Christ, traveling the world and helping the needy, etc.

But maybe those “big plans” mean being a teacher in a classroom of only 13 students. Maybe those big plans mean buying a McDonald’s cheeseburger to give to the homeless guy on the same corner every week. Maybe those big plans mean doing the best I can to have a positive influence on the people around me in my life right now.

I know that I’ve written about this same topic before. But it’s something that I am constantly thinking about and having to remind myself.

It’s dangerous to always hear, “God has big plans for you.” Not because God doesn’t have a perfect plan, but because maybe that plan isn’t actually that “big” in our own eyes, which might leave us disappointed.

If I’m constantly trying to figure out what God’s big plans for my life are, I’m going to be distracted from the plans God is working out in my life right NOW.

This last year, I made the commitment to sponsor a little girl in the Dominican Republic through an organization called Compassion International. Getting to write letters back and forth to Esther has been one of the coolest things! And getting to meet her and spend the day with her was even more amazing.

A few weeks ago I had an opportunity to sponsor another child. In my head, I kept thinking something along the lines of, “Yes, I have to do it. The more children I can sponsor, the better.” There was also a part of me that thought that if I could just sponsor one more child, maybe I would be closer to completing those “big plans” God has for me. But in my heart, I realized something very different. It’s not that sponsoring another child would be a bad thing, but maybe right now devoting myself to sponsoring and writing to Esther (my current sponsor child) is what I’m called to do.  

I’ve made a commitment to myself that in the months to come, I’ll stop living to do more. And instead, I’ll start just living as I’m loved. It shouldn’t be about trying to do all these things that just might be a part of what God wants for my life. It should just be me living as someone who is unconditionally and wholly loved by God.

There’s a thin line between living to earn God’s love and living because we’re loved. Even if we know that God loves us as we are, I think it’s easy to fall into this idea that we should try to do as much as we can for Christ, even though we’ll never be able to repay Him for what He has done for us. Instead of living in this mindset, we have to remember that we are already loved completely and entirely, and could never be loved any more or any less.

We’re loved for who we are in Christ, not for anything that we’ve ever done or will ever do. So in the months to come, live like your loved. Don’t live to be loved. Don’t live, constantly chasing after all these “big plans” and opportunities. Live loved. Being right where you are, serving God where He has you right now, loving Him and loving people is the “big plan” God has for you.  

It doesn’t mean that you won’t ever do that huge thing you’ve been dreaming of doing. Maybe you will change thousands of lives. Maybe you will start a world-wide organization for children. But don’t let that be the reason that you’re living. Live because you’re loved.

Psalm 63:3

“Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”