Controlling Your Future
What do you want to do the rest of your life?
What’s your major?
What’s your plan after graduation?
These are the questions that haunt just about every college student. Getting grilled by your parents can be hard enough, but holiday breaks with extended family can be downright brutal and even embarrassing.
Oh, you’re still not dating anyone?
So it’s junior year and you still haven’t chosen a major?
The questions go on and on. Whether you have every step from now until age 90 planned out, or you don’t know how to step out of bed in the morning, there are a couple things we should all know about our future:
We weren’t created to be in control
Genesis 1:27 tells us that we were made in the image of God. That means we were created to be image-bearers, to reflect all attention away from ourselves and give it to God, instead of stealing God’s glory and trying to be God. Unfortunately, we know what happened next: Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and disobeyed God. They tried to be in control.
Do you use your laptop for a skateboard? No! That’s not what it was created for. In the same way, we have no control over the weather, or if we get cancer, or if we will wake up from our sleep every morning. From the beginning of time, we have been trying to be like God and control our lives, when in fact we weren’t created to be in control at all.
We function best under His control
If we are honest with ourselves, the times we have screwed things up the most is when we have tried to be in control. We try to make things “better” by lying, deceiving, cheating, stealing, and making things appear differently than what they really are. We become burdened & anxious because we know we have no control. But when we put our eyes on the true creator, we find peace. When we seek & trust God, we see the benefits of his provision. Psalm 16:11 says:
“You make known to me the paths of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Isn’t this what we are all seeking? To have known paths, fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore? This is our promise in the Kingdom of Heaven, but we can start to see these benefits on earth. As God’s children we are given a purpose, and with a purpose comes a plan.
The Master Plan has already been revealed
I am 24 years old, married, and work for a college ministry in Georgetown, Ky. What will I be doing in 10 years? Honestly I do not know. I may still be in Georgetown. I may be in Africa. I hope to have a bigger family by then. Who knows what I’ll be doing in 10 years.
However, I do know what I will be doing in 10,000 years! I find it in Revelation 7:9-10:
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'”
So, you want to know what my future plans are? I’ll be worshiping the Creator of the universe for all eternity. It is important to plan well and be prepared for the rest of our days on this earth, but what is important 10 years from now may not be in 10,000 years. While on this earth, God’s plan for me is to be a loving and faithful husband, hard-working employee, and a steadfast follower of Christ. I can’t control how the rest will unfold, so I will rest & trust in my victorious King.
What does your future hold?