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God
Planned You!
By
Jack Hayford
I think you'd
love the way we celebrate birthdays at the Hayford house.
In fact, we
have big birthday parties here five times a year. With
our four kids who are married, their spouses, eight
grandkids, Anna—my wife, myself, and great-grandma
Hayford, there's a total of nineteen birthdays to celebrate
each year.
We accomplish
all of that celebration, however, in five big events. We cluster
groups of birthdays, and have celebrations in January, April, June,
September, and December. Of course, each family celebrates each
individual's birthday on their own and on the actual day. Our "cluster"
celebrations are just for family fun.
And we do have
fun!
It's a riot
watching all the smaller grandkids play together. It's
exhilarating to go out in the driveway and shoot baskets
with my sons and older grandboys. It's delightful to
watch the explosion of paper and ribbons as the presents
are opened. And it's most ful-FILL-ing to enjoy the
feast as everyone brings his or her share of the meal,
and we experience a smorgasbord of salads, hot dishes,
and—of course—the cake!
Beginning last
year, I started feeling a deep sense of the importance
of communicating to people the significance of their
birth. Such an emphasis may not seem important to you
or me. We may have been raised in a family climate of
love and support. We may have lived in a home where,
early on, we were taught our worth and significance—with
big birthday celebrations that illustrated the point!
But it is increasingly
true of our society that fewer and fewer people are brought up in
a family atmosphere which cultivates a sense of worth. More and
more people tend to feel like "cosmic accidents." Many
dear souls have a background of being treated as "problems,"
as unwanted arrivals," as unplanned-and-therefore-unspecial"
beings.
My heart throbs
to do what I can by God's grace in every way possible,
to instill in the heart of every person I can reach
an abiding sense of significance. There is nothing like
the truth of God's Word to settle this issue; to create
an internal sense of this fact: Every person is a case
of "planned parenthood"—God planned
you! Whatever else may have seemed to be happenstance,
there were no surprises in heaven when either you or
I arrived on earth!
Because some
were born illegitimately, with deformity, or conceived in less than
desired circumstances, people draw the conclusion that God wasn't
involved in the process. But listen: the fact that God may not have
willed the way a person came into the world, does not mean He has
not planned a purpose for that individual. Long before anyone
is conceived, God's purpose for that LIFE is foreseen:
Just as
He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined
us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to
the good pleasure of His will (Ephesians 1:4-5).
The
Bible doesn't teach that our way of arrival on earth
was programmed by God in
some computer-like plan of predestined order. But it
does teach that HE KNEW WE'D
BE
BORN, and that HE CARED ENOUGH TO PLAN A PURPOSE FOR
EACH OF US—INDIVIDUALLY!
In short, Father-God
is the one who planned for you and me. He's the Parent who is eternally
committed to working for the fulfillment of His purpose in us, and
giving all grace and power from day to day that His plan for us
may be fulfilled.
And birthdays?
They ought to be an annual celebration of God's plan for you ...
a new opportunity to declare His blessing upon you for another year.
Let's make
a big deal out of these worthy celebrations. Let's take time to
give cards and presents and notes and words and greetings ... and
certainly a hug or two (or ten!). But let's incorporate those expressions
with statements of high and holy truth: The Lord God has created
every one of us with magnificent purpose and infinite worth.
If it's your
birthday, take the Lord with you on a walk or out for an ice cream
cone.
Enjoy the present of His presence and the light of His smile. He's
glad you're alive ...
and so am I. |
Jack
Hayford Ministries
14800 Sherman Way, Van Nuys, CA 91405-2233