FACE Today Devotions

The Best Laid Plan - 2/19/25

“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 (NIV)

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” — John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

One of the most beloved of verses from the Bible has to be Jeremiah 29:11. And why not? Who doesn’t want to believe that God has plans to prosper us and not harm us, to give us a hope and a future. However, if you are calling on this verse in expectation of a wonderful day tomorrow, your circumstances might not agree with that expectation. For that is the planning of man and, as Steinbeck states in Of Mice and Men, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

Context is everything. What was God saying in this passage? For one, he wasn’t saying that everyone would have a radically better day tomorrow than they did today. In fact, it was part of a letter sent from Jeremiah to the captives in Babylon. Right before the often memorized verse, he writes, “For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place [Jerusalem].” (Jeremiah 29:10)

God was encouraging the captives who would continue be captive for at least 70 years. He encouraged them to accept it, settle down, build houses, seek peace with their captors and pray for them (Jeremiah 29:4-7). In other words, He wasn’t going to change their circumstances for at least 70 years. His plan was was bigger than the moment or a generation. His encouragement was in the fact that He knew their plight, understood it, and it was all part of His plan to restore His people.

It is the same idea communicated by Paul in Philippians 4:11-13, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

The best laid plans of man are always temporal. They are centered in ourselves, our moment in history, our struggles, our goals and our lifetime on this planet. God’s plans are eternal. They are focused on Him. They are driven by His will and understanding which far exceeds our wisp of a lifetime on earth. Which is why over and over the Bible encourages us to trust, believe and be content in our current circumstances. Because it is all going to end up the way God intends for it to be.

So, do we not matter? Does our suffering, hardship, need, pain and heartache NOT matter to Him? Absolutely it does! God intensely cares for you and everything you go through. However, as a Christian, God’s care for you and plan for your life is an eternal plan, not a temporal plan. As 1 Peter 5:6-7 states, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

God cares for you! His care plan is an eternal care plan, but it is not centered on you. It is centered on Him. His promises are true. He desires to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future, to save you from harm and He will do it all “in due time”.

That time might be today. It might be in years to come. It might be the moment we finally meet Him face to face. In the end, however, His plan for your life will come to be. So, no matter the circumstances we face today, the hardships or burdens; we should be humble, content, at peace, in prayer, and be about the business of building. Building our lives, families, communities and building them all in faith that God’s plan is the best laid plan!

We are right to claim this verse in our life when we do so in deference to God’s plan. It is when we claim it in effort to recruit God to our plan that we miss the mark. God cares for you. He has a plan for your life. Trust. Believe. Build. And rest assured He will fulfill His plan “in due time”.

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.

I don't love my wife . . . ! - 2/12/25

“Love…does not seek its own…” — 1 Corinthians 13:4,5

I don’t love my wife — Dot, Dot, Dot, Exclamation Mark!

Most Christians are familiar with the Biblical definition of love given in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

First Dot: I don’t love my wife as I should. The one that really gets me from the passage in 1 Corinthians 13 (besides all of them) is that “love does not seek its own”. The reality is I often find myself trying to be patient and kind and all the rest for my own benefit. In a “I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine” mentality. Trying to be loving towards my wife in order to receive love rather than just loving my wife.

Second Dot: I don’t love my wife as she needs. Ephesians 4:11-16 shows us how God put together the church for growth and that we “should no longer be children” but “speaking truth in love, [we] may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.” God blessed me with my wife not just for my personal edification, but to be a partner in growth. Her growth. That growth can only come from a heart of love directed towards Christ.

Third Dot: I don’t love my wife unless I love Christ. 1 John 4:7 makes it clear, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” True love, the kind defined in the Bible, can only come from God. No one can share that love with another unless they have received it themselves. We can’t even comprehend it unless we have experienced it. To love my wife they way I should, the way she needs, begins with understanding and experiencing how I’m loved by Christ.

Exclamation Mark: Jesus once said in John 14:12, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to my Father.” How in the world are we to do greater works than Jesus Christ. He healed the sick. He raised people from the dead. He died for all mankind. What greater works are left?

The answer is not in the works, but how they are accomplished. In the same setting, Jesus goes on to share of the new relationship we have in Him and says, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5, emphasis added)

It is amazing to see the works of God. It is awe-inspiring to see God work through Christ. It is an even greater work to see God work through flawed mankind to accomplish His will. Here is where the love my wife needs is found: when I love Christ and open myself up to allow Him to love my wife through me. This is true love.

I pray today that I might be a vessel through which God can work to love my wife as she should be loved and needs to be loved. I pray the same for you and your spouse, children and the dear ones in your life. Now…LOVE!

© 2025 Warren Martin. All rights Reserved.