We are human and as such we have our own hopes and desires which sets us up for the battle of two agendas. The artist who goes by Rag’ N Bone Man sing’s the refrain “But I’m only human after all…don’t put your blame on me” (Human, 2017). This chorus is one which calls out what so many of us have used to justify our own behavior. It is not a sin to have our own hopes and desires; sin enters in when we put those hopes and desires before God’s.
Seek First His Kingdom
Jesus counsels us, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given you as well” (Matthew 6:33, NIV). Again, we are not commanded to not have dreams or plans. We are even promised many of them will come to us if we seek Him first. We must prioritize the agenda God has set for us, but this begs the question, what is His plan? This is where the first part of this scripture comes in, we must “seek”.
What we ought to seek is the guidance of the Holy Spirit to glorify God and honor Him always. We can do nothing greater than to become reflections of His glory in the world. It is not always clear finding God’s plan for us, and many can lose their way. However, there are a few things we can do to check if we are on the right path.
Path Finding Tips
When seeking to find God’s agenda we can use these filters to illuminate the path.
Ask:
Is it biblical? Does the path we are evaluating stack up to God’s biblical principles?
Will this path bring us closer to God, keep us about the same, or separate us from Him?
Seek:
Wise counsel. “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed” (Proverbs 15:22). Finding guidance from spiritual leaders can often illuminate the path we are to take.
Pray and Listen:
God will hear our prayers and answer; we only need to listen for it with open mind, heart, and soul.
Be Careful What You Wish For
When we consider our hopes and ambitions, we must also weigh out their “righteousness”. The verse from Matthew 6:33 promised “…and all these things will be given you as well”, but His righteousness needs to be considered too. What we desire will come to us if it is in line with God’s will for us.
We must be careful; we sometimes do get what we wish for, even if it is not in line with what God desires. God will allow us on occasion to get our ill-conceived wishes to allow us to reap the consequences. He protects us from ourselves, but sometimes to protect us He must allow us to crash. Not to punish us, but to get through to us. We must ask God to “See if there is any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalms 139:24).
Trusting in the Agenda
The biggest challenge we have in the battle of two agendas is trusting the one which is not our own. We need to reconcile this conflict. When we get our own agenda in line with God’s we will find our riches far exceed anything we could hope for. God promises us in Jeremiah “’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 a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
Reflection
Think of a time when your agenda aligned with God’s so completely you knew without doubt its “rightness”. Journal about this time.
Going deeper: Journal comparing the above time with a time you went against God’s agenda for you.
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