God Conceived a Plan

God Conceived a Plan

 

. . . he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. – John 3: 16

Mental health professionals advise that if you suspect a friend or loved one of being suicidal, you should not ignore the signs and ask them directly: “Are you thinking about committing suicide?” If they answer: “Yes.” Then, your next question is supposed to be: “Do you have a plan?”

The reason for this last question is that it is a test of how real of a possibility suicide may be for them. The thinking is that if they have gone as far as to make a plan to commit suicide, then they are serious about doing it.

Now, in a similar, but unrelated matter, what if we asked God after the Garden of Eden fiasco, did He really love Adam, Eve and their descendants; and if He wanted them to be saved and reconciled to Him? He might have answered: “Yes.” Next, if we asked Him: “Well, do you have a plan as to how to make that happen?” He would reply: “Yes.” This is how we know that God was serious about saving humanity. He didn’t just desire to do it or think about doing it or even talk about doing it. He had a plan to do it.

In short, here is the plan.

Step 1. Give. (…that he gave…) The irony of this plan is that it begins with giving. Usually, when you want to teach a person a lesson or to get them back in line, what you do is take. Not God. First, He gave.

Step 2. Give something of precious value to Him. (…He gave His only begotten Son…) This plan seems even more incredible by the moment. For, God not only chose to give, but to give something belonging to Him which was precious and dear to Him. That is His only begotten Son – Jesus. This is where God should have required something precious from us in order to be reconciled with Him. Instead, He loved us so much that He sacrificed something precious to Him for us.

Step 3. Make it available to everyone. (…whosoever…) This was not a plan tailor made for the one per centers, the five per centers or the talented tenth. This was for everybody and anybody. It was for whosoever.

Step 4. Give everyone a choice to opt in. (…whosoever believeth…) The plan was free and available to all, but it had to be opted into by belief in Jesus Christ. Listen: “Whosever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” The plan is God’s, but the choice is yours. That is miraculous!

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