Sensible Management

In affluent democracies Christians are often indistinguishable in lifestyle from non-Christians--not least when it comes to time management and personal organization. I have seen many articles written by Christians on these topics; virtually none even mention James 4:13-16 ("Now listen, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil"). Nor do any of the other "God alone ultimately determines how things will work out" scriptures get more than passing mention.

Not that I think a "truly Christian" approach is all that simple. Since God rarely sees fit to hand us minute-by-minute schedules for use of our time, we often feel forced into the secular "master your own hours" approach, lest doing "nothing" for extended periods costs us our chances of earning a living. Few are so closely tied to God as to always be sure what He wants from us--and we don't really wish to join those who won't get dressed in the morning without first praying "what color underwear should I put on today?"

Still, living most of our lives as if God didn't exist is no answer. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Our problem here, I think, is that we take it to mean, "If you just 'pray right,' you need never be uncertain about where to place your foot for the next step, and you'll never hit a dead end." More likely it means, "If you make consistent effort to stay humble before God and accept that He has full control over what happens, be sure He will keep you from wandering far outside His plan for your life." Which is not quite the same as total freedom from confusing circumstances, or even the occasional serious misstep. Even hikers who know exactly where they are can sprain ankles.

It takes humility to admit this, but humility is key to effective Christian living. Once you start assuming you know best, you've taken a dangerous step toward assuming you don't need God.

You may be the heart of frugality
And save nickels and dimes every day;
But if you never give anything to God,
Then you might as well throw it away.

You may be a star in your use of time
And put all the best work in your hours;
But if you have no time for the work of God,
All your deeds are as weeds in the flowers.

You may be a planner of highest skill
And may never fall short of a goal;
But if there is no place in your days for God,
You are taking a chance with your soul.

Put aside every doubt that God is Lord
And the Master of all of your time,
That He holds the whole claim to each thing we use;
Nothing really is yours or is mine.

So give to Him the first of all you earn,
And surrender each hour to His will,
And hand Him full control of your destiny--
And with blessings your life He will fill!

Life Is Confusion

Do a Google search for the phrase "life doesn't make sense," and odds are you'll get some 838,000 results. (I did.) Specifically, life makes little sense when judged by our best reasoning and instincts. It seems that well-laid plans should run smoothly, that people who work hard for dreams should achieve them, that evil should be stopped before it has the chance to do real damage, and that people should keep their health at least for the first thirty-five years of life.

Probably the majority of times, things do happen that way. But when they don't, everyone notices. A woman who followed all the rules of diet and exercise is stricken with terminal cancer at age twenty-nine. A drunk driver collides with an inner-city student who finally achieved the first college scholarship in his family a week earlier--the young man who worked so hard for a better future dies, and the driver whose thoughtlessness caused the tragedy isn't even scratched. Two families, next-door neighbors who to all appearances are equally law-abiding and decent, both pray for protection in a storm--a tornado rips down the street, swerves away from one family's house, and levels the other's.

It's not fair--which is usually what "Life doesn't make sense" means. No one talks about the "senselessness" of a hardworking but poverty-level teacher's suddenly inheriting $2 million willed by a fifth cousin to "my nearest living relative who can be located in six months"--though the odds against it are probably greater than those against the teacher's falling victim to a drive-by shooter. Regardless, the "life doesn't make sense" argument is also a key point of the "Is there a God or isn't there?" question. If there isn't a God, life really is senseless--but then how do you explain the human instinct that says life should make sense? If there is a God, why doesn't He add a little more "sense" to life?

There's a clue in Isaiah 55:8: "'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the LORD." In other words, it's not only possible that things will happen that make sense to God but not to us--it's inevitable. Truthfully, the very existence of another common phrase, "for your own good," proves that we do understand "higher ways" sometimes must prevail. Your cat can't understand why he needs a rabies shot; a three-year-old can't really comprehend why eating a whole bottle of flavored aspirin is a bad idea; and a high school student is incapable of fully accepting that he isn't ready to vote, drink beer, or leave town for an unchaperoned weekend.

Our understanding is considerably farther below God's than a cat's is below a human being's. Pets and small children rarely hold it against us for long when we do something for their own good. Let's try to be as wise in accepting God's will for our lives.

Life is confusion, life is hard;
Circumstance has no reason or rhyme;
If you search for details of what makes life tick,
Reason falls on its face every time.

Life is confusion, life is tough;
And no matter how hard you may try,
Things will always occur far beyond human power
To find reasons for "whether" and "why."

Life is confusion, life is hard;
But there is deeper purpose behind,
And someday we will see, in a world yet to come,
That all made perfect sense in God's mind.