God Has a Plan for Your Life
Comments on Galatians with an ear to Luther’s commentary
Scripture Text: Galatians 1:15-17 and Jeremiah 1:4-5
Series: Comments on Galatians
During the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, we used to tell people, “God loves you and has a plan for your life.” I used to think that plan was essentially that people come to a saving knowledge of God in Christ. I wonder; is it more than that; is God’s plan for me more involved than I thought all those years ago?
Were it left to me, my life would be a complete mess and I would not be a minister of the gospel today. But God has kept me on track, in spite of myself. Looking back, I can see his hand in my childhood, teen years, young adult years, and middle age. I have seen him at work in my upbringing, my marriage, my family, my friends, my education, and my work.
If I were able to look even further back, I might be able to see that he was involved in my life while I was yet in my mother’s womb. All of this gives me great hope for the future. God has guided and will continue to draw me to him, his purposes in history, and his plan for my life.
I am not alone in receiving these gifts of providence. God has been at work in your life too. While he may not have called you to preach the gospel as a pastor would, as Luther says, “heaping mercy upon mercy, he freely forgave your sins, replenishing you with his grace to enable you to learn what great things are yours in Christ.
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Author
Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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