Postponing Plans

        My wife is a planner, and I am not. We are about to leave on a vacation she has planned out. I am so thankful that she has got on the internet and booked the hotels for some great prices (in the 30's and 40's). I'll be honest, if this trip was up to me, we would "wing it". I would have postponed making plans. I've got more of a one track mind. I have a hard time thinking beyond the week before me. If I can barely get done what I need to this week, how can I possibly think weeks or months down the road? I guess I am not much of a "multi-task" person; I continually postpone making plans. I have said this to myself (and my wife) a hundred times, "I can't think about that right now; let's talk about that next week".
        Then it struck me, "God is a planner". God doesn't "wing it" or shoot from the hip. He has, from the beginning, planned it out. He has not just planned the beginning or middle, but all the way to the end. He has planned out your salvation. He has planned it out so that you could be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). He has planned it so that you personally will be in heaven with Him. But this may not be what you want. You may simply want to get through this next week. You may be too busy to follow God's plan. Next week never seems to get here without another "next week". So you have postponed even looking into the plans that God has for you in the Bible. But your death will soon be here before you know it.
        Vacation time is here for my family. This will literally be the biggest vacation we have ever taken (2 weeks). We are ready to go. Now I think of what Jesus said, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:3). There is yet a bigger vacation coming, it's been planned out a long time ago. Jesus has prepared a place, and paid the price. Will you be there? Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people. Are you prepared? Are you following His eternal plan on how you are to live? Or, are you just "winging it" trying to get through this week ? DP

        To goad an animal is to quickly push a long pointed stick somewhere on their backside to get them to go in the direction you want them to go. Sometimes we all need a little push in the right direction, but obviously not with a long pointed stick. Rather the preacher said, "The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd" (Ecclesiastes 12:11).
        Notice that these goads are "words of wise men". God can use the words of men and women around us to goad us in the right direction, but most of us resist some of these goads. Saul, who was soon to be the apostle Paul, was one of those people. He had heard the Christians talk, saw how they acted, and for a long time resisted their way of looking at the scriptures. Even though Saul saw their logic and the truthfulness of their words, he resisted. Not only did Saul resist, he kicked against what they were saying.
        Jesus, seeing the mind and heart of Paul resisting the logical and scriptural words of these Christians, said to him, "'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads' (Acts 26:14).
        Perhaps it was not just the words of these Christians that goaded Saul, perhaps it was how good their lives were, how holy and pure. When you see someone walking out of a movie that you shouldn't be watching yourself, it should goad you to get up and out of there! Without a word, your conscience should be goaded, but are we kicking against it?
        When someone in the church is opening up their home, showing hospitality, it should goad you in the same direction; it's time to stop kicking against it.
        When you see someone picking up and disposing of somebody else's trash, that should goad us into thinking, "that is something I need to do too".
        When there are Christians around you, they should goad you by the good things they say and do. But sometimes we become experts at kicking against the goads, and the next thing we know our best friends are not Christians at all. Don't let your friends goad you in the wrong direction. DP