“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.”
“Oh yeah? Says who?” A suffering person asked. “Where is God’s wonderful plan when I have cancer?”
The person whose spouse abandoned them for another: “Where is God’s wonderful plan?”
“My kid is in prison and I lost my job. Where is God’s wonderful plan?”
“My son was killed in Iraq. Where is God’s wonderful plan?”
“We lost everything fleeing ISIS and they murdered some of my family. Where is God’s wonderful plan?”
For over sixty years the statement from The Four Spiritual Laws, “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life,” has offered hope and a new life to millions who have considered its message. But as the world worsens and suffering increases some people are put off by its optimism. Where is God’s wonderful plan in the midst of so much suffering?
But God’s wonderful plan is not meant to promise a trouble free life or for God to intervene or interfere to solve all our problems. While it is for this life, it is especially for the life to come.
It is for the hurting searching for something better.
It is for the guilty who beg God for mercy.
It is for the suffering who plead for relief.
It is for everyone.
God’s wonderful plan for you is about eternity. Consider what Paul said, “For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (II Corinthians 4:17). Think about what that means.
Do you suffer with a handicap or some lifelong medical condition? What are a few years of difficulty compared to the trillions times trillions of never ending years you will spend whole in the life to come?
Are you guilty of a crime, punished, or imprisoned? What are a few years of punishment compared to an eternity of never ending days in freedom?
Have your family members rejected you for one reason or another? What is that loss compared to being adopted by God the Father, made an heir along with Jesus for eternity, and the new, never ending family you have now and yet to come?
Have you lost a loved one to divorce or death? Jesus is the bridegroom of the church and will forever meet our deepest need of relationship.
Have you, for the sake of the Gospel, sacrificed wealth, status, a home, or the everyday normal comforts of life? God will reward what you have lost and he himself will become your most treasured possession.
No matter what trials you face, whether short or long, even if you lived to 120 years of age and suffered greatly, what is that compared to the eternity you will enjoy with no suffering, no guilt, no loss, no rejection, and no sin?
The scripture encourages us with these words about the challenges we now face and the life to come: “For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind”(Isaiah 65:17).
“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” It’s time to begin experiencing it, right now, today. Take the first step to eternity.
