Romans 15:23-25

Paul had big plans. In fact, when you look at a map and consider travel technology at the time, it is obvious he had huge gigantic plans. Paul’s life and his writings reveal that he was a godly and righteous man. History has shown that his gigantic plans never came to fruition. Yes, he did go to Jerusalem, but then all of his plans fell apart.  The Jews persecuted him and to save his own life he had to use his Roman citizenship to appeal to Caesar. When he went to Rome, he was not on his way to Spain. He was a prisoner of the empire. What are we to make of all of this?

Does a failure of his plans mean that he was planning outside of God’s will? That would be contrary to the evidence of his life, his ministry and his writings. Paul’s righteousness is self-evident and therefore he would have aligned his plans with God’s will. That means sometimes God wants Christians to make plans that they are never going to be able to carry out. Yet, the question remains, “Why?” This particular scripture does not explain why God had Paul make plans that he would never complete, but reason can give us some answers.

Paul made plans so big and so daring that even after he died others saw the challenge, took up the plans, and completed them. The church evangelized Spain and Christianity became the primary religion of the region. While Paul looked to the future with big plans, he never stopped living big in the present. Even while in prison, he continued his ministry of preaching and letter writing, and he continued planning. His faithfulness did not depend upon God fulfilling every plan. Christians, like Paul, plan big and dream big, not because we are sure of the outcome of our plans, but because we are sure of our God. God wants us to continue planning, because He knows when we stop dreaming big, we risk living small.