Showing posts with label John Ortberg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Ortberg. Show all posts

Friday, November 26, 2010

Plans . . .

Really liked and could connect with what John Ortberg had to say below . . . Believe what you read below and then live like you believe it!  Life has a lot of yield signs and red lights, but if we're traveling with Jesus there are no dead ends!!
A Better Plan from a Better Planner
By John Ortberg
It’s almost Thanksgiving, with Christmas right behind. Often on the holidays we become aware that life does not go the way we plan. We think to ourselves:
I was supposed to be married by now.
I was supposed to be promoted by now.
I was supposed to have retired, or to have children, or to have achieved this dream-
Or, I wasn’t supposed to go bankrupt.  I wasn’t supposed to lose my job, or get divorced, or get cancer.
What do you do when life doesn’t turn out the way you planned?
One of the great statements of the Bible reads: “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD. Plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope, and a future.’
Jeremiah 29:11
We all have plans. But God does not say:  “I know the plans YOU have for you…”
In the Bible, God is always interrupting somebody’s plan. 
Adam didn’t plan on getting created. 
Noah didn’t plan on building an ark. 
Abraham didn’t plan on becoming the father of a new nation in his 90’s.   
Esther didn’t plan on stopping genocide. 
Moses didn’t plan on defying Pharaoh.  
Mary didn’t plan on getting pregnant. 
Not a single story in the Bible begins:  “Then someone had a great plan…”
But God has a plan.
Better than our plan.
So even if we have many disappointments, we have something else, something to be grateful for.  We are part of somebody else's plan; a better plan, from a Better Planner. His plan is better than we could invent ourselves in a million years. 
Gratitude is one of the best parts of the plan.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Living Hope

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead!" (1 Peter 1:3)

I was reading John Ortberg last night and and check out this great thought from Reinhold Niebuhr that he shared that draws a distinction between optimism and hope:

'Optimism believes in progress, that circumstances will get better. Hope, however, is built on the conviction that another reality, another Kingdom, already exists.'

Life can be hope draining. But our hope is not just in this life. It's in a King and a Kingdom. As followers of Jesus we are part of a reality that is way beyond this life and yet is buried deep within the belly of this life. It is in us. He is IN US. The Kingdom is IN US. Christ in us the Hope of Glory!

Whatever is going on today, in Christ you have hope! Pray that His reality and His Kingdom will prevail on earth and in our lives.