Plans & Plants

I recently got a new baby — a new Apple Mint plant 🙂 Here’s a photo!

 

With so many things spiraling in my life right now (yes, I am a bit dramatic at the moment), I wanted something I could venture into. I wanted something I can focus my attention to and get joy and fulfillment by caring for it — and since I cannot get a pet, I settled for the next best thing: a plant.

I got so excited when a friend of mine got this one for me! She got a good deal on herbs and got me one too.

The moment I got it, I was stoked and frantic at the same time! I suddenly had all these plans in my head — I want to make mint tea! I need to put it in my room!  No! It has to be outside! I want … — ETC. It didn’t stop there either. I started Google-ing all sorts of home garden guides, YouTube-ing a bunch of videos on How to Take Care of Mints, and I even went on a Craigslist spree to look for bigger pots (my research shows that mints are invasive plants and need room to expand and grow)!

When all the crazy was over, I had a plan — I’d see how my plant grows in this pot. Test out my caring skills for about a month. Go thrift store hopping for bigger pots. Re-pot. And repeat! (Plus a little pruning and harvesting every now and then.)

Everyone has plans, we all know it; even the bible confirms it. —

In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9

God, too, has plans for us.

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

Difference is, not everyone who has plans has the ability to carry them out and see them through.

I have a LOT of plans for my new plant. But since it’s my first plant, I am not really sure if I will be able to fully see all my plans through — or if I will be successful enough to even be able to try to carry out these plans!

I really like this plant, and I do not want anything bad to happen to it. I want to care for it. I PLAN to ensure it will be happy, cared for, able to propagate, and have a fruitful (pun sort of intended — though I don’t think mints have fruits) life.

But the reality is, my plans are just plans.

I am not capable of ensuring that all these plans can come to fruition. Sure, I can look back in a year or so and say: “Wow, I did it!” But until then, there is no way for me to guarantee my plant anything other than a bunch of plans.

God in Jeremiah 29:11 says He has plans for us — amazing plans for OUR betterment and OUR future. And these are plans every parent who loves their children will make. Every parent, one way or another, has plans for their kids — plans to prosper them and not to harm them, plans to give them hope and a future.

But the reality is, their plans are just plans.

People can plan all they want, for themselves or for others; but not everyone is capable.

This is when I had my Aha!  moment.

I do not simply trust my Jesus because I know He has a PLAN. I trust Him because I know HE CAN SEE HIS PLANS THROUGH. 

The bible is also very vocal about God’s power.

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matt. 19:26

For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:37

(Some more here: 100 Verses About God’s Power and 40 Verses About God’s Omnipotence)

The bible is filled with verses such as these, verses that declare the omnipotence of God. THIS is why He can make all these promises about having great plans for us — because when He makes plans, only He can undo them.

When God created the world, He had a plan for it and every single thing in and on it. When it fell into sin, He announced His plans for salvation right then and there. When the time came, He fulfilled His promise and sent His Messiah — Jesus. When He accomplished His sacrifice on the cross, He said it was finished, and it is. When He said He can save you, He did. Now? He said He’d come again, and He will.

So the next time you see a plant, may you think of HIM who can turn plans into plants.

It’s a RELATIONSHIP

If there’s one thing I can never stress enough, it’s that being a Christian is being in a relationship with Christ.

God wants that.

When God called Abraham to be the father of HIS chosen people, He did not call him to PRACTICE A RELIGION — He called him to DEVOTION to Him.

When Jesus came, He did NOT establish A CHURCH (in the religious sense of the word); He came and taught, DIED for the people He created — AND ROSE AGAIN FROM THE DEAD to establish relationships with the people He came to save.

SALVATION is not received by MEMBERSHIP to a CHURCH, nor by AFFILIATION to a certain DENOMINATION — it is by A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP with JESUS CHRIST.

The Bible clearly says:

“That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

You NEVER go into any relationship with anyone YOU DO NOT KNOW. A relationship with Christ ENTAILS A KNOWLEDGE and ACCEPTANCE of who He IS, and what He’s DONE for us.

Another aspect of a relationship can be found in Matthew 7:21:

“Not everyone who says to Me (Jesus), ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”

Relationships demand OBEDIENCE. When we accept Christ for who He is — we essentially accept Him as our LORD and SAVIOR. It IS pretty straight forward, “Why are you calling me Lord when you’re not obeying me?” 

And of course, there’s the all important idea from 1 John 4:19

“We love because he first loved us.”

A relationship HAS to be founded on LOVE. The whole idea of Christianity is basically having GOD LOVE US SO MUCH.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

Christianity is not primarily a whole list of dos and don’ts that can get you saved, that’s what RELIGION is for. Christ coming to earth was essentially BECAUSE HE LOVED US TOO MUCH and WANTED TO SAVE US. We do not become Christians to adhere to its teachings and laws to be saved — we become Christians to RECEIVE His LOVE and GRACE, to ENTER INTO A RELATIONSHIP with HIM. 

We saints do not subscribe to a religion, we FOLLOW a GOD who LOVES US. Blindly following a religion and its teachings is totally different from KNOWING, LOVING, and FOLLOWING Someone — Someone who came over to this measly earth He himself created, died in the hands of those He came to save, and provided His salvation as a free gift JUST BECAUSE HE LOVES US SO MUCH.

Q: Does it mean, then, that as long as I have a relationship with Him, I am a saint already? I don’t need to follow a certain way of living?

— Well sure, but remember, being in a relationship CHANGES people. If you truly are COMMITTED to someone, IT WILL SHOW.