Screw Stability and Safeguards, Backup Plans are Worthless

I think the world, or at least America, puts a lot of security in backup plans. We work our butts off in high school to get good grades, so we can attend a good college, in order to get a good job, resulting in money for a comfortable life style, while saving up our retirement funds to live comfortably when we're finally sick of working. This is a mindset that is placed upon us at a young age. Constantly saving money, we're always buying the next big thing, a nicer car, or a better house. Save your money. Buy nice things. Prepare for hard times, so you don't have to worry. But still, we worry. We worry our saved money won't be enough. We worry we won't be able to buy nice things. We worry the hard times will come, and our meticulous preparations will fall, shattered at our feet.

The solution is to cast it all away. Money can be lost. Expensive gadgets can be broken. Cars can be wrecked. Houses can catch fire, or natural disasters can strike. It is impossible to plan for everything. Worry could easily kill us.

 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

...

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow,

for tomorrow will worry about itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6: 27 & 34

God has a Plan, and it doesn't have room for backup plans. Our life goals should only encompass the great story He has written us into. Sometimes the part of the plan we are performing is simply to live. But we must live with the knowledge that God is there, not spending our time worrying about clothes or food or house. God will provide for the needs of His children. Just as an earthly parent or friend provides, so does God. 

It's so hard sometimes not to fall into Satan's traps. How easy it becomes to wonder if there really is a Heaven, or God, or Something out there. For me Heaven is impossible to imagine. I can't comprehend what it will be like. The concept of eternity is impossible to grasp, I'm so used to beginnings and endings. I know it's there. When I die, I know where I'll go. Though I have absolutely no idea what Heaven will be like, I trust fully that it will be the most amazing place. More incredible than I could possibly imagine. All I know is I'll be with Jesus, singing and praising Him, and that is all I could ever need. That is all I need here, on earth. So, with God's help, I'm not going to worry about tomorrow. It is a struggle though. 

Matthew quotes Jesus in chapter 6, saying, 

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures in on earth, 

where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy,

 and where thieves do not break in and steal. 

For where you treasure is, there you heart will be also."

Still, window displays at the mall are so tempting! Having a nicer car, a fancier house, a bigger TV, the best video games, a plethora of expensive shoes and purses, name brands and admired belongings almost seems like the goal. I'm not saying these things are wrong, not in the least. The problem arises when our things own us. One of my favorite books/movie, Fight Club, has a wonderful quote: 

"You buy furniture.  

You tell yourself, this is the last sofa I will ever need in my life. 

 Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, 

at least you've got your sofa issue handled.  

Then the right set of dishes.  Then the perfect bed.  The drapes.  The rug. 

 Then you're trapped in your lovely nest, 

and the things you used to own, 

now they own you."

That movie/book has some great theology. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. 

Our security cannot be placed in the world, stability, or any number of backup plans we can concoct. There is nothing in that. Anything we desire, need, or lack, God will provide. We must place all our trust in Him. We can't doubt Him. We can't ask God for the money we need to fix our broken car, while in the back of our mind going, "Well just incase God doesn't feel like helping, or won't help, or can't help...maybe I can ask Uncle Bob, or Great-Aunt Georgina, or my best friend Billy, and maybe even the neighbor would be willing to help out. Or I could have a bake sale...or sell my old TV - I only need one right - or I could..." No. It doesn't work like that. If we fail to fully place our lives in God's capable hands, He'll allow us to flounder about, grasping for the loose straws of the world, until we realize that He is the only answer, and only He can provide. 

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God,

who gives generously to all without finding fault, 

and it will be given to him. 

But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, 

because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, 

blown and tossed by the wind.

That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;

he is a double minded man, 

unstable in all he does."

~ James 1:5-8

Jesus loves us. He desires good things for us. He can't give them to us if we're living in the future, trying to scribble hasty backup plans on notecards behind His back. He sees all, He knows all. We must trust Him, because He is good, and He is there, and He loves us, and He will never leave us.