Studying the second half of the book of Romans this month, one verse keeps poking me when I read it. Romans 13:14 says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.” It’s convicting because how often do we make plans to satisfy those very desires of the flesh the Lord admonishes us not to?
We are always making plans to do something, go somewhere, or become someone. How many of those plans center on bringing or giving glory to God? If you’re like me, not many. We design almost all our plans to fulfill the desires of our flesh rather than to further the Kingdom of God. There are exceptions, of course, but that they are the exceptions should tell us we have a problem.
It’s an uncomfortable thing to recognize we are living in direct contradiction to the commands of the Lord. “Uncomfortable” is too nice of a word. It should be horrifying. If disobeying the Creator of the Universe doesn’t cause significant terror in your heart, you do not have a proper understanding of the awesome holiness of God (Hebrews 12:28-29). When the Lord says to do something, you do it. When He says not to do something, you don’t. Otherwise, He’s not the Lord of your life and to say He is just makes one a liar (1 John 2:4-6). God tells us to make no plans to satisfy our carnal desires. Therefore, we must never do such a thing.
When I read through the Old Testament, it always mystifies me how quickly the Israelites turn away from God despite all the blessings He pours out on them. It’s only a few days after hearing the voice of God thunder from the mountain that they bow down and worship a golden calf (Exodus 32:7-8). Time and again they swear to worship God alone, and time and again they are chasing after pagan gods. It’s so easy to shake our heads at them until we look in the mirror. We, too, promise to obey all the Lord’s commands, only to turn around and refuse to do so.
God commands us to make no plans to satisfy our flesh. If we love Him, we will obey Him (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3). That means as you plan your week, your personal plans should all be for the purpose of bringing glory to God. It’s going to mean not doing some things you were looking forward to doing. It might even mean a radical shift in what you were planning to do with your life. Whatever the cost, it will be worth it to live in obedience to God.
Don’t misunderstand the point of what I’m saying. I am not saying you should never make plans; that would be foolish (Proverbs 16:3; James 4:13-15). What I am saying is you should make no plans to satisfy the longings of your flesh. We should never see our free time as occasions to indulge in our passions, but as opportunities to bring glory to God.
The devil loves idle hands, so make plans to pray and read God’s Word whenever you find yourself with nothing to do (Ephesians 5:15-16; Colossians 4:2). Cultivate a hunger and thirst for the things of God, and look forward to meeting with Him whenever you can (Matthew 5:6; Psalm 42:1-2). Make all your plans revolve around knowing Him, serving Him, and living in obedience to what He commands (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 119:105). If we desire to spend our time doing anything else, then we have yet to grasp what it means to surrender everything to Christ. When all your plans revolve around bringing glory to Christ, it will be your true and beautiful worship to Him (Romans 12:1-2; Colossians 3:17).