God’s Blueprint For Life

Architects, engineers, and draftsmen create blueprints of many kinds. God’s blueprint for life far surpasses the significance of them all.

We purchased a condo about five years ago. Many times, I have gone to the archives, searching through blueprints to understand the hidden mechanisms between floors and walls. It has been frustrating to discover that contractors have cut corners and eliminated essential elements from the original design. In our case, instead of venting the two bathrooms and the laundry separately, they combined them into one inadequate channel. Consequently, dust filters into the bathrooms and unwanted aromas transfer from one room to the next instead of being forced outside.,

Blueprints form a shared language, allowing architects, engineers, owners, estimators, fabricators, inspectors, and contractors to work and understand the structure without guessing. Knowing that language prevents far-reaching errors and creates an atmosphere of rhythm and synergy throughout the system.

Each detail of the building holds a unique purpose. God, in a far more extensive way, has a unique purpose and design for each of us. As we by faith embrace God’s blueprint for life, every step and experience leads us into His divine purpose.

“ 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 hope and a future.“
Jeremiah 29:11

We don’t always know God’s day-to-day plan. We can, however, discover the greater picture for our lives.

God’s Blueprints for Life

We need to remind ourselves that God’s plans are good. His plans include prosperity, protection, and hope — both now and forever. So even when it looks like things aren’t following His plan or maybe even going in the wrong direction, we trust His goodness despite daily challenges.

Developers may scoff at dryer lint in the bathroom or unwanted aromas that will eventually disappear. Life, ordinary life, can be much more difficult. Knowing which way to turn requires faith and trust in both the design and the Creator Designer. Faith leads us to follow God’s blueprint, even if imperfectly.

In every stage of building, from start to finish, standards, credentials, certification, and inspection follow. Everything in sequence. No rushed or missed process.

God values us far more than the grandest of architectural design. Before the creation of the world, He had each of us in mind.

“Praise be to God for giving us through Christ every possible spiritual benefit as citizens of Heaven! For consider what he has done—before the foundation of the world he chose us to become, in Christ, his holy and blameless children living within his constant care. He planned, in his purpose of love, that we should be adopted as his own children through Jesus Christ—that we might learn to praise that glorious generosity of his which has made us welcome in the everlasting love he bears towards the Son.”
Ephesians 1:4 (Philipps)

All those who put their faith and trust in God belong in the family! Before the foundation of the world, God said, “You are mine — my beloved child — chosen, loved, and holy.”

Sometimes, we read these verses too quickly and move on. Worse yet, we may read, understand and say, “No thanks”, choosing to follow our own plan. Often, too late we realize our faulty conclusions and consequences.

Trust the Plan

The contractors for our condo exercised their free will. They scrimped here and took short-cuts there. Now for the life of the building, every owner and resident will pay the price of their inconsistencies. Building according to plan would have cost them more and probably would have taken more time. Some shortfalls proved minor. Others become devastating. The consequences ripple unto untold generations.

The same goes for life. We may perceive our plan as being superior to God’s, but sooner or later deficiencies catch up to us, deceptions come to light, and choosing comfort over courage creates faultlines that bring harm — perhaps in wasted years, gifts, and talents, and always resulting in relationships and lost trust.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trusting God means treating Him as your safest place and strongest defense—moment by moment … It is confidence that His walls are higher than any threat and His heart is committed to your good. Live there, and peace becomes more than a feeling; it becomes your address.”

Trusting God is easier said than done, however. In the gritty gutters of life, we want to trust our own reasoning and follow the deep grooved patterns of our former behaviors.

The Plan

Trusting in God’s blueprint for life looks a lot like:

• Putting one’s confidence in the character of God rather in our own abilities or resources (Psalm 37:4-6)
• Believing that the promises of God in His Word are as reliable today as ever
• Knowing that God is fully present, powerful, and protective.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6

Our reluctance to follow God’s plan often comes from not knowing and trusting Him — “being confident”. The more we trust Him, the more we discover He is trustworthy. The more we depend on His promises, the more we find His promises both perfect and personal.

One of the greatest lies the enemy cons us into believing is that God doesn’t love us enough to be present with us (right here … right now … near). That somehow our circumstances are bigger or more complicated that He can handle. That we have stepped too far outside His grace and mercy for Him to come through for us.

Lies! All lies!

God’s faithfulness to His plan has nothing to do with our ability. It has everything to do with His incredible love and grace.

If we fail, if we refuse Him, there will be consequences. He allows us to reap the full repercussions of our actions. Those consequences drag us deeper and farther away from our perfect design than we anticipate. But God …

Only God’s blueprint for life will bring us the greatest fulfillment and joy than we could ever imagine.

Where is the Plan

I searched for a while before I found the full plans for the condo building.

God clearly and fully reveals His plan through the pages of the Bible.

Just as reading blueprints requires us to unroll the scroll or access the computer files, we only discover the beauty, majesty, and intricacies of God’s plan through His Word — opened, read, and seriously considered. God unfolds His plan as we daily

• fix our minds upon it, reading and meditating (Psalm 119:15)
• with hearts to know Him — to discover the language of His unchanging character (Deuteronomy 4:29)
• memorize it (Psalm 119:11)
• study it as the chief resource of our life (2 Timothy 2:15)
• and commit ourselves to live it out, one faltering step at a time (Psalm 37:5).

Let’s choose to believe the Word of God — the promises and the warnings, the simple and confusing. We fall into err when we pick and choose which parts we want to believe and apply to our lives. The Holy Spirit desires our full agreement to bring us into God’s perfect plan and design (Romans 10:17).

“The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
― G.K. Chesterton, 
What’s Wrong with the World

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 19:21

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Know Which Path to Take — God Leads the Way