The Plan
You are the plan.
For real. There is a plan, and you are it! This is one of the most exciting and surreal realities of a Jesus follower:
- God came to Earth in the physical form of His son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
- At the end of His time on Earth, and after having been crucified, buried, and resurrected, Jesus returned to the right hand of God (Lk. 24:51).
- Jesus entrusted responsibility for His continued work to His followers, and left God in the form of the Holy Spirit to help us (Jn. 14:26).
We refer to the primary mission of Jesus as a “finished work” because there is nothing you or I can do to enhance or diminish the magnitude of it. We have life and the promise of eternity with God not because of anything we have done, but because of the perfection of what Jesus has already done. When you stand before the God of the universe, you will be judged not on your merits but rather on whether you have surrendered to the One who already paid the price. It is a finished work, and it was Jesus who completed it.
Even so, in His abounding and everlasting love and grace, the One true and triune God chose to incorporate you into the earthly stewardship of that finished work. He chose to establish a vessel into which that finished work would be poured for sharing with the generations that would follow, and He selected you as that vessel. He established the Church—His followers—as the mechanism by which He would be made known.
In other words, He could have chosen any plan or no plan at all, but He chose you as the plan because He wanted you as the plan!
This Truth is what makes The Equipped family so special. The beauty of the plan is really incomprehensible. It is beyond what you or I can fully perceive, and it rushes beauty and purpose and form into your earthly life and mine. It changes your realty from one bound by flesh and bones to one unshackled from human constraints.
It also changes the way you should view the Church.
The Church is a gathering of Jesus followers for the purpose of praising and glorifying God, yes. But it is not only that.
At its core, the Church is the living, breathing embodiment of God on Earth! The Church is composed of fallen beings—you and me—so it is not perfect as God is perfect. And yet, the Church is the mechanism by which the world comes face-to-face with the One who fulfills its every need and desire.
Far from a passive bystander, the Church is the way in which the will of God is made known and implemented on Earth. It doesn’t require unmatched intellect, political power, or global consensus. The plan is not centered on any of those manmade constructs.
The plan is focused on you. The plan is designed for embrace by imperfect but fully redeemed Jesus followers. It flows to a world in need not through perfect strategies or even miraculous intervention, but rather as a result of humble submission to His charge.
The work is finished. But the plan for dissemination is still in operation. The plan is alive in you. The plan is you!
The preceding article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.