Psalm 65:4

Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

Righteousness is the concept. We are blessed by His choice, His house, His temple. It has nothing to do with right thinking, right actions, or right choices, only Jesus is righteous and we are blessed just to be with Him.

How easily we slip into feelings of worthiness when it wasn’t even our choice to belong to this family in the first place, we were chosen by God.

Even a fragile ego tries to defend itself. A proud ego doesn’t concern itself with lesser thoughts and is dismissive of other opinions and considerations.

What did we consider when we first decided to place our faith in Christ?

I need to be saved from the fiery pit of hell. That might be for some.

I want to be happy. That might be another thought.

I am wandering around lost in a perverse world that doesn’t care about me. Some might connect to that notion.

I need to be redeemed. Probably not the first thought for most of us. We might discover later the concept of redemption but not necessarily when we first asked Christ into our lives.

Perhaps others are curious in the same manner that I was back then. Why would this God be interested in me? I am not special. That thought led me on a journey of discovery to try and understand why this God would send His Son to die for me. I had never been loved like that. My life experience up until the point of God showing Himself to me was void of that kind of love.

I did not know there were so many different words for love. The Greeks have many words that can be translated as love. English has just one word and how that love is applied is to be considered. Parental love is one and if it is not applied correctly what is a floundering child supposed to think?

Lust isn’t love and if that is all one has felt there will be years of heartache before true love is experienced, if at all. Until then what fills that void in our hearts?

Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Proverbs 23:18
Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

What is tomorrow if we have no hope for a future?

We all make plans but none of them are within our control. Tomorrow is not promised to us.

Proverbs 27:1

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.

Making plans is not boasting, it has an element of accountability. Parents make plans for their children. Teachers make plans for their students. Businesses have plans to satisfy stockholders. We all have invested interests in making a better life.

Looking to all of those plans and many more we will recognize a lack of total control. The biblical definition of vanity is emptiness of expectations. Lamentations is full of advice about vanity. We might find those passages unpleasant, even negative.

We will find an abundance of negativity in this world if we are looking for it. It is all around us and seems to be unavoidable. Making long range plans can only avoid known dangers. We would not make plans to visit a region that is about to be hit with a category 5 hurricane. We would not plan a trip to a park that we know is closed. 

We tend to avoid things that will ruin our plans.

God has a plan for those who trust in Him. God has the power to insure those plans will be successful.

Do our plans align themselves with God’s plan?

Hebrews 6:16-18 English Standard Version

16 For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. 17 So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.