J. I. Packer - Gods Plans for You

GODS PLANS FOR YOU

Other Crossway books by J. I. Packer

Growing in Christ
Life in the Spirit
A Passion for Faithfulness
A Quest for Godliness

Gods Plans for You

Copyright 2001 by J. I. Packer

Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187

Some of the material in this book was originally published in 1987 by Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., under the title Hot Tub Religion.

A Christian Style of Life appeared in an earlier form in D. A. Carson and J. Woodbridge, eds., God and Culture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993).

The Transformation Track was originally an article in The Standard (January 1999).

Power Path started as an article in Faith and Renewal (January 1992).

The four Musings on the Life of Faith were featured in Eternity magazine (November, July, January 1988, April 1987).

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided by USA copyright law.

Cover design: David LaPlaca

Cover photo: Wonderfile

First printing 2001

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise designated, Scripture is taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

The NIV and New International Version trademarks are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by International Bible Society. Use of either trademark requires the permission of International Bible Society.

Scripture references marked ESV are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version.

Copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Scripture references marked KJV are taken from the King James Version.

Scripture references marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations taken from the Revised Standard Version are identified RSV. Copyright 1946, 1953 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

Scripture quotations taken from the New Revised Standard Version are identified NRSV.

Copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Packer, J. I. (James Innell)

Gods plans for you / J. I. Packer.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 13: 978-1-58134-290-1 (alk. paper)

ISBN 10: 1-58134-290-X

1. Christian lifeAnglican authors. I. Title.

BV4501.3.P32 2001

248.4dc21 2001003934

______________________________________________

VP 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4

I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
JEREMIAH 29:11 ESV

CONTENTS

1 DANGER! THEOLOGIAN AT WORK
What These Chapters Are Meant to Do

2 THE PLAN OF GOD
The Basic Christian Orientation

3 MEETING GOD
The Basic Christian Relationship

4 HOT TUB RELIGION
Toward a Theology of Enjoyment

5 A CHRISTIAN STYLE OF LIFE
Managing our Labor, Leisure, Pleasure, and Treasure

6 GUIDANCE
How God Leads Us

7 JOY
A Neglected Discipline

8 SCRIPTURE AND SANCTIFICATION
How the Bible Helps Us to Holiness

9 THE TRANSFORMATION TRACK
What It Means to Follow Christ

10 POOR HEALTH
Physical Cures and Healing

11 DISAPPOINTMENT, DESPAIR, DEPRESSION
How the Great Physician Touches Troubled Minds

12 KNOW YOURSELF
Identity and Self-Image

13 POWER PATH
Taking the Holy Spirit Seriously

14 MUSINGS ON THE LIFE OF FAITH
Double-Mindedness, Seriousness, Balance, Dying

15 CHURCH REFORMATION
Outward Reordering and Inward Renewal

I hope the title of this book does not upset you. I can see that it might seem altogether too bold, as if I were laying claim to the sort of advance knowledge that astrologers and fortune-tellers offer and that Christians emphatically do not have. But, as the epigraph on the previous page shows, my title is no more than an echo of Gods own words addressed to the deported Jews in Babylon and relayed to them in Jeremiahs letter; and my purpose in choosing it was simply to set before our minds the certainty that God, who is Lord of both his own future and ours, is taking his people somewhere wonderful.

The note on the text in the New Living Translation declares, rightly: As long as God, who knows the future, provides our agenda and goes with us as we fulfill his mission, we can have boundless hope. This does not mean that we shall be spared pain, suffering, or hardship, but it does mean that God will see us through to a glorious conclusion.

So John Rylands lyric is fully justified:

Sovreign Ruler of the skies,
Ever gracious, ever wise,
All my times are in thy hand,
All of events at thy command.

His decree who formd the earth
Fixd my first and second birth;
Parents, native place, and time,
All appointed were by him.

He that formd me in the womb,
He shall guide me to the tomb;
All my times shall ever be
Orderd by his wise decree.

Times of sickness, times of health,
Times of penury and wealth;
Times of trial and of grief,
Times of triumph and relief;

Times the tempters power to prove,
Times to test the Saviours love;
All must come, and last, and end
As shall please my heavenly Friend.

Plagues and deaths around me fly;
Till he bids, I cannot die.
Not a single shaft can hit
Till the love of God sees fit.

The chapters that follow seek to illuminate and apply all this in a variety of different connections. The aim throughout is to show how life looks and feels when lived by faith in the sovereign God of the Bible, and to help in forming attitudes, focusing values, and making decisions amid the perplexing cross-currents of decadence in the culture and the church. The plans of God in which we shall take soundings cover, first and fundamentally, his agenda for leading us from where we are into fullness of fellowship and perfection of life with himself, and within this frame, second and specifically, his agenda for drawing out of uswhich means, working in usthe cooperation with him of humble heart, helping hand, and holy hope that is integral to this process. My ideal reader, the you of my title, is someone who shares my certainty that in life, in death, and for eternity our relationship with God is what matters most, and therefore should be our main concern here and now. Are you with me? I hope so.

So let us together get down to business.

1
DANGER!
THEOLOGIAN AT WORK