16 Feb Best Laid Plans

Seconds after this year’s Super Bowl ended, Philadelphia Eagles players were sporting hats proclaiming the champions and their fans could already order shirts and hats of their own. Each year the NFL is prepared to sell “team merch” for both teams playing in the game. So, what will happen to all the gear proclaiming the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl Champions?

The NFL works with a non-profit organization to send the merchandise overseas. I saw similar jerseys during a mission trip to Haiti in 2019. The NFL must prepare for either team to win, but how often do we, in our minds, preprint winner jerseys by assuming we know what God is going to do? Here’s what I mean by that question.

I once heard a pastor say that four male students at the seminary where he was teaching came to him and said they knew that God had chosen a certain woman to be their wife. It turned out all four were talking about the same woman! As the pastor put it, “at least three of them were wrong.”

One of the greatest sources of heartbreak in the early years of my ministry was being sure that I knew what God had up His sleeve. I saw clearly “Super Bowl Champion” in my mind and I was absolutely stunned when God had another jersey preprinted that was intended for someone else. James, the half-brother of Jesus, cautioned against this in his letter to Messianic Jews around 60 AD:

13 Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil. 17 If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:13-17 (NIV)

James cautions us against assuming we know the who, what, where, and when of our future, no matter how carefully we make our plans God still has the final word. His example also focuses on making a profit. Nowhere is God mentioned in the plans. The desire for worldly success has made God very small, with the hope of financial success growing much larger than Him.

Are you so sure of your plans that you preprint a jersey in your mind honoring them? When the New York Jets acquired quarterback Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers in 2023, many football observers declared the Jets as legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Rodgers played four snaps in 2023 before being lost for the season with an injury. In 2024, Rodgers and the Jets suffered through a dismal season, and it appears his time in New York may be over.

It’s perfectly fine to plan. We can’t drift through life aimlessly. But God wants us to put all our plans before Him and to trust Him when our plans don’t align with His. So, if you’re stuck with a champion jersey preprinted in your mind, don’t despair and don’t be angry with God. Give it to Him. As hard as it might be for the Kansas City Chiefs, Aaron Rodgers, and us His plans are always better than ours. The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry. Trust God. He gets it right every time!

Pastor Jerry Bader