We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

— Proverbs 16:9

We make our plans, but God always will have His way. There is nothing wrong with making a plan for tomorrow or next month or next year. But just keep in mind that God may change your plans. He is in control of your life. We are told in Jeremiah 10:23, "I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course." We call this divine providence.

Having said that, it does not mean that bad things will not happen to good—even godly—people. But it does mean that even when bad things happen, God can bring good out of bad. Romans 8:28 reminds us, "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them."

However, the good that God promises will not be fully realized until we get to heaven. We can look at some things in our lives and say, "That was bad, but in retrospect I can see the good that has come from it." Then there are other things we will experience in which we never will see the good, at least, as far as we can see. In fact, it will not be until we get to the other side and see God face-to-face that we will understand these things.

Meanwhile, we must realize that God loves us and is always looking out for our eternal benefit, with emphasis on the word "eternal." What we sometimes perceive as good could be potentially bad, and what we sometimes perceive as bad could be potentially good.

And sometimes what we think of as bad today may ultimately be good, because it changes who we are and makes us more like Jesus.

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.

— Hebrews 13:15

In Acts 16 we find a beautiful story of two men who glorified God in the midst of some discouraging circumstances.

Paul and Silas had been arrested in Philippi for preaching the gospel. After being beaten with wooden rods, they were thrown into a dark, filthy, underground hole. Archaeologists believe they have discovered this dungeon, which was a small, windowless room with no sanitation facilities. Their shredded backs were exposed to the bare ground, and their legs were pulled as far apart as possible as they were put into stocks, which would have caused excruciating pain.

What would you do if you ended up in a situation like that? Here's what Paul and Silas did: "Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening" (verse 25). Now this was a sacrifice of praise, because there was nothing in their circumstances to rejoice about. How easily we could have read that they groaned at midnight. We would have understood that. Or, we could have read that they cursed the men who beat them and cursed the jailer. But instead we read that they sang praises to God.

When you are in pain, the midnight hour is not the easiest time for a worship service. But the Bible promises that God can give songs in the night. We are told in Psalm 42:8, "The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me —a prayer to the God of my life."

There is something about the night that can amplify our problems. But we need to realize that God is in control both in the day and in the night. We need to offer our thanksgiving to Him at all times, in every circumstance.

"A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them."

— Matthew 7:18–20

There are people today who say, "I am a Christian," but they are out getting drunk. They say, "I am a Christian," but they are having premarital sex or being unfaithful to their husband or wife. They say, "I am a Christian," but in their business, they lie to people every single day. They distort things. They take money that is not really theirs. There are a lot of people today who think they are Christians but are not, because they have not really changed. They are not living according to what the Bible teaches.

I am not saying that a Christian cannot sin. I am not saying that a Christian won't slip up. But I am saying that there is a big difference between a person who slips up, sins, is sorry for it, and wants to change and a person who lives in continual, willful, habitual sin.

The Bible says that if you live that way, you don't know God. Maybe the reason that some people have never really known the joy of the Lord is that they have never met the basic requirements of salvation. They think being a Christian is just having Jesus along for the ride. They don't realize that He wants to be their Lord and wants to lead and guide them. They don't realize that He has a distinct and unique plan and purpose for their lives.

Jesus Christ wants to be the Lord of every aspect of your life. He wants to be the Lord of your business, your free time, your relationships—the Lord of all. And if He is not Lord of all, then He is not Lord at all.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
— Hebrews 13:8


The Bible describes a time in Israel's history when "everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 17:6). But I also think that is a good description of our time. Rather than living by a set of absolute standards like the Ten Commandments, many people are making up their own standards and using a sliding scale for morality, thinking they are at least better than the next person.

It reminds me of the prophet Isaiah's warning, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (Isaiah 5:20). That is where our culture is today. We mock what is good and pure, and we celebrate what is wicked and sinful. Good is called evil and evil is called good in our upside-down world.

That is why I think our generation could easily be called the iGeneration, because we think it is all about us. It is all about our getting what we want, when we want to get it. Now that we can get our information on demand, we don't want to be told what we can see or hear—or let others decide when we can hear and see it. We want what we want, and we want it when we want it. And many are taking the same approach to morality.

So how do we reach a culture like this? Answer: we reach it the same way Christians reached their culture 100 years ago and 300 years ago and 500 years ago and 2,000 years ago. We reach our culture with the authority and the message of God's Word, because that never changes, no matter what. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).