The Plans of Man

 Any plans we make are fluid. They can change on a dime, get turned on their head, and be dead on arrival, but that’s part of life, and we take it as it comes. I envy people whose plans extend only so far as seeing another sunrise, but I’ve got meal prep to think about, who’s going to drop the girls off at school, who’s taking them to cello practice, violin practice, Bible study, swim class, and a dozen other things that need to be figured out every week so that everything functions smoothly.

It’s not that I like being a planner; it’s that I have to be one. Life is a bunch of moving pieces, and if you don’t plan to some extent, you’ll just get caught up in the gears and sit there staring at your phone, wondering how you missed your daughter’s dentist appointment even though the wife reminded you a half dozen times.  

Since we’ve just wrapped up the study on fasting, I thought it prudent to share my plans for the foreseeable future so there’s no confusion. If the plans must change, they will, but if the Lord tarries and I’m still here, this is where I see us going.

First, we will finish up the study on the Epistle of James. We halted halfway through to do the study on fasting, which turned out to be a bit longer than I thought it would, but now that it’s concluded, we will finish our journey through James.

Job is still on the list, but given everything that’s going on in the world and the lack of any meaningful study on the topic, once we conclude with James and before beginning our study of Job, we will have another topical study, this time on the subject of persecution. The preliminary title is Preparing for Persecution, but it’s not settled yet. I just know we’ll be doing a study on persecution in general, what the Bible says about it, what Jesus said about it, and if it’s anything we have to concern ourselves with in our day and age. Spoiler alert: yes, it is something we must concern ourselves with.

Depending on how long Job takes, we may also break somewhere in the middle of that study and do another topical study, whether on the elements of endurance, the sanctified believer, or the principles of prayer; I’ve not yet decided, but when the time comes, the decision will be made clear one way or another.

Time is short, and we must be ready for what the Bible warns is coming upon the world. Pie-in-the-sky fantasies and cotton candy dreams won’t cut it. At this point, what’s being peddled as the Word of God isn’t even milk because milk still has some nutritional value. It’s something synthetic, man-made, only fashioned to look like the real thing, but the taste, texture, and substance are all off, like eating a tofu burger and trying to pretend it’s an all-beef patty. I know, other than its gelatinous texture, tofurkey tastes so much like the real thing you’re planning on swapping it out over Thanksgiving, and I just bet no one will notice. It doesn’t, and they will. They won’t even have to taste it; they’ll just look at it and know because turkey doesn’t jiggle. Anyone who says I can’t believe it’s not Scripture has never had the real thing and does not know its nutritional properties for their spiritual man.

That’s the troubling thing to me. That men who’ve claimed to be believers for years have never been introduced to the Word of God but took other men’s word for what it said. Even when they bothered to read it once in a great while, they went to men to tell them what it meant because what it insinuated was too much for them to bear.

I’ve come to conclude that everything flows from doctrine. If the doctrine is wonky, then so is the foundation, so is the belief structure, and everything else that being a child of God entails. When Paul writes to Timothy, the first thing he highlights Scripture being good for is doctrine, followed by reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. The purpose is that the man of God may be perfect and thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Another way of saying it is that the man of God is equipped for battle and ready to take on the darkness.

The truth of it is that battle is coming whether you as an individual are ready for it or not. It won’t wait on anyone for anything, and it will be too late to do anything about it when it commences. Whether or not you are ready is important because it will be the difference between whether you stand or fall on that day. It’s not something we get to when we get to, but something we must prioritize and focus on commensurate with its importance.

By the time some realize what they’ve been consuming has done nothing to grow them, strengthen them, or equip them, it will be too late, as they feel no strength, endurance, or longevity in their race. By the time they realize the leering faces encouraging them to slothfulness and lawlessness feeding them the equivalent of whoopee pies and moon cakes were not their friends, mentors, elders, or spiritual fathers, the tale will have been told, and the body-positive lady will have sung. In order for the spiritual man to stand, and having done all to stand, it must be adequately fed, full of the Word, the Holy Spirit, and power, so that it might do what God has called it to do, which is resist the enemy and all his schemes.

Anyway, that’s the plan. See you shortly.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.