Is It True That God Has A Plan For Each One Of Us?

This is the question I found, waiting for me, when I opened my email yesterday:

“Where in the Bible does it say God has a plan for each of us?”

I want to walk around a direct answer for a moment.  The idea that God has a plan, for each of us individually, is a popular notion.  Books, poetry, movies and Television shows have been written about it.

One of my particular favorites is the movie Simon Birch.  About an unusual little person who had an odd appearance and different kind of behavior.  Simon believed that he had a God-given purpose.  He was convinced of it.  And in the end he proved himself correct.

There is a strong argument for this understanding of God’s plan for each individual.  Because God does want all of us to use our natural gifts to do his bidding in the world around us.

However, there is something disconcerting about the thought that God has us all on marionette string controlled from on high.  And, if I am not mistaken, it says  as much throughout the Bible.  The message is that we are to  make a difference.  That we are all given our own gifts to offer o the whole of God’s people

Another way of saying this is that God didn’t clone humankind.  He didn’t make us all the same with all the same purpose.  

The Apostle Paul says it this way:

1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. 7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift…… 11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love. (Eph. 4)

Yes God has a “plan” for each and every individual. And this is the plan:

each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift…… the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.

The answer to your question is yes!  

Yes God has a plan for all of his, very different and individually equipped, children.  Children, no matter how young or old you are.  

The plan has been clear from the very beginning of time.  That all human creatures live together in the love of God.  That all human creatures live their lives caring for, and sharing, all that God has blessed them with.  

We were all — corporately and individually — created to live together in peace and harmony.  

Or my personal favorite:  

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.(Mic. 6)