What’s the Plan?

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of His will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in Him.

Ephesians 1:7-10

My father is a professor at a small Christian college, and over the years, he has spent countless hours meeting with students who are confused about what to major in, what career to pursue, and what God is calling them to. Never one to pass up an opportunity to grow his major, he’ll often jokingly riff off the old Evangelism Explosion phrase: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life…and I know what that plan is!”

If only it were that simple. Whether we are 18 or 80, just starting our careers or looking towards retirement, I think we all secretly want someone to come along and tell us what the plan for our life is. And even if we think we might have a plan, the longer we live, the more we are met with hard things we would not have chosen: prolonged singleness, infertility, difficult marriages, sickness, job loss, death…and the list goes on. We feel frustrated and confused, wondering, “Can this really be God’s plan for my life?”

But when we read Ephesians 1:7-10, we are reminded of a simple and profound truth: God’s plans are so much greater and better than anything we might imagine or choose. In Christ, God has revealed what was once hidden—His plan to unite all things in Christ. I think it’s easy for us, if we have grown up in the church or have been Christians for a long time, to miss how shocking the New Testament would have been to first-century Jews. After all, we’ve read the last page; we know how the story ends.

The Jews thought they knew the plan. Chuck Swindoll explains it this way: “Frankly, God’s plan revealed in Jesus Christ caught most religious Jews off guard. They were anticipating a great and mighty military victor who would overthrow Rome, rescue their people from all Gentile oppression, and restore the kingdom to Israel.”¹  But God’s plan revealed in Jesus is so much more, so much grander, than what the Jews were expecting. Frank Thielman writes:

God will unify the created universe around Christ. Through the resurrection and ascension of Christ, God has conquered all powers inimical to his purposes and placed them, vanquished, at Christ’s feet (Ephesians 1:20–22a). God has given this conquering Christ to his body, the church (Ephesians 1:22b–23), and the church is itself comprised of believers drawn from people groups formerly alienated both from God (Ephesians 2:1–10) and from one another (Ephesians 2:11–22). Christ will therefore be head over all things (Ephesians 1:22), especially the church (Ephesians 4:15; 5:23).²

I still don’t know God’s plan for my life. But I do know that it is better than what I would choose. I know that I am united to the One who holds the universe together. I have received every spiritual blessing because of my union with Christ (Ephesians 1:3). No good thing will He withhold from me (Psalm 84:11). And no good thing will He withhold from you.

 

End Notes:  
1. Charles R. Swindoll, Galatians, Ephesians, Swindoll’s Living Insights New Testament Commentary (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2015), p. 170.
2. Frank Thielman, Ephesians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2010), p. 67.