What to Consider When Making Plans for the New Year
For those of you who are planners, we’ve arrived at your time of year! For example, one can download goal sheets, order a new calendar, and write resolutions. In addition, many people start a new diet and/or an exercise program, they establish a goal of reading so many books, or they plan to visit a specific number of places. We all tend to look ahead and dream of what can happen over the next twelve months.
I like the dreaming part, however I’m not big on the planning part. In contrast, my sweet Pastor husband is a planner. He sets weekly and monthly goals, and also loves to talk about five-year and ten-year goals. To his credit, he is disciplined and follows his plans well.
Past Plans
Quite a few years ago, I created a plan and lost thirty pounds. Once I hit my goal weight, I created another plan so that I wouldn’t gain the weight back. As long as I followed the plan, I did well and didn’t gain back those annoying pounds.
However, I did not always choose wisely. After several years, I begrudgingly created a new plan to lose 15-20 pounds. I lost those pounds, and then I found them again with the help of menopause. I’m currently wavering over what my plan should be now.
God’s Plan
God has always had a plan. His plan is not about our appearance nor our achievements. In fact, we just journeyed through advent, proof that God has always had a plan. With the birth of Jesus, prophecies were fulfilled. God also sent angels, who gave specific direction to various characters in the Christmas story, so that God’s plan was sure to occur.
God initiated the crux of His plan with the coming of Jesus. Jesus brought God’s plan to a climax when He died on the cross and rose again. Christ defeated death and provided a way for each of us to experience redemption and restoration with God Himself.
God Works His Plan
“God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ – which is to fulfill His own good plan. And this is the plan: At the right time He will bring everything together under the authority of Christ – everything in heaven and on earth. Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan.”
Ephesians 1:9-11, NLT
God always has a plan, plus God is always working His plan. God is constantly moving to place all heaven and earth under the authority of Jesus Christ. One day, we will only know the Kingship of Jesus and no other ruler. Paul even guarantees God’s plan in the last part of the passage in Ephesians when he states, “He makes everything work out according to His plan.”
Planning is a Godly Characteristic
As we each make plans for the new year, we can’t guarantee our plans. However, when we make plans, we act like our creator. We exemplify a characteristic of God Almighty. I believe we behave as God created us to behave when we make plans.
Furthermore, we must remember God’s plan always trumps any plan we make. Every. Single. Time. Therefore, we must craft our plans with God’s plan in view. We must design our plans with God’s help.
Align With Jesus
First of all, we must pray and align our hearts with Jesus. I know I must personally consider why I want to attain a particular goal. I can choose a goal to feel better about myself, so I am more admired or envied, or so I fit more easily into the world around me. In those instances, my heart isn’t aligned with Christ; my heart is seeking to gain value within my own abilities.
When we align our hearts with Jesus, we ask for what Jesus would ask for. We desire for things to happen that give God glory, where He becomes more, and we become less. We seek to be a catalyst so that others encounter the redemption and restoration we have already experienced as believers in Christ.
Conform to the Parameters of God’s Kingdom
Secondly, we must seek to make plans that conform to God’s Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom, God is glorified (1 Chronicles 29:11-12). God’s Kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). In addition, God’s Kingdom is about righteousness, peace, and joy (Romans 14:17). In God’s Kingdom, we choose repentance (Matthew 4:17). Plus, Christ reigns in God’s Kingdom; He is the Sovereign ruler (Revelation 11:15). God’s Kingdom is abundant with power (1 Corinthians 4:20).
If our plans don’t fit within the parameters of God’s Kingdom, we must change our plans. We need to alter our plans if we create goals that don’t support what the Kingdom of God is about. If we focus on plans that don’t lead us to glorify God, or honor Christ as Sovereign, we have the wrong plans.
Prioritize Your Relationship with Christ
Third, we must be more concerned with building our relationship with God over anything and everything else. We can make plans to build a career, or a business, or a better way to live daily life. However, if we don’t consider growing closer to Jesus as the core of our plan, we’re building the wrong life.
Better Plans
I believe each of us can create better plans if we live into the truth we lived throughout the month of December. Christ has come. He is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus came to save us from sin, and He also came to save us from plans that lead us away from Him.
Yes, we have entered 2025, and God’s Kingdom has come. God is working His plan, and He will complete all He intends. He will not fail. For 2025 to be the year we dream it to be, we must create plans to align with Jesus and His Kingdom.
