Thomas Cole – The Angel Appearing to the Shepherds
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
So, how do you love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind? What does that mean?
Heart Love God from the center of who you are, not just with emotions, but with your decisions and heartfelt goals.
Soul Love God with what makes you you—with your whole life, not just one part of it on Sundays at church.
Mind Love God with your thoughts, your attention, and the way you think deeply about the world around you.
Love Is Action
Here are some things to do daily to put love for God into action.
Pray. Start every day by talking to your Heavenly Father and listening as He talks to you.
Tell God the desires of your heart; you must speak your desires before God. You must speak them.
Read and study God’s Word. God has revealed Himself, His endless love, and His grand plan in the Bible. It also tells us how we are to obey His will for us so that we will live the awesome lives He desires for us.
Praying and reading the Word of God put you in His presence, and when you’re in His presence, your heart, soul, and mind will worship Him and praise His glorious works.
Be aware during the day that you live your life before God, not just other people.
Make these love actions habits in your daily life, and you will see how putting yourself into God’s heart will make your life a wondrous dream come true.
Now, how do we do the second part of the Great Commandment? That’s next.
Taking everything we’ve learned so far in our journey into “Your Life And What Comes After: Plugging Into God’s Forever Plan Now,” let’s start zeroing in on what you can do today—and every day—to live a fantastic life that is pleasing to God and helps you find your perfect, special place in God’s grand plan.
The best recipe for tapping into God’s purposes and living our best lives the way we’re meant to is found in the Great Commandment in Matthew chapter 22.
Jesus Hits a Homerun
Right before Jesus gives the Great Commandment, the religious leaders are basically tag‑teaming to trip Him up. They try a trick question about paying taxes, and Jesus answers so cleanly that they back off. Then they jump in with a wild question about marriage in the resurrection, and Jesus shuts that down too. At this point, everyone who tried to trap Him has struck out in front of the crowd.
So they huddle up again and send in one of their “experts” to ask what they think is the perfect trap: “Which commandment is the greatest?” They’re hoping He’ll pick the wrong one. Instead, Jesus cuts through all their debates with a perfect, simple answer:
Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
That’s the Great Commandment—love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
And that’s our North Star for plugging into God’s grand plan. It doesn’t mean you have to be churchy and religious all the time. But what does it mean, and how do we actually live it out?
When he was a young clerk J.C. Penney worked in a small Colorado dry-goods store, he wasn’t given any special authority or status. But he consistently showed up early, treated every customer with unusual respect, and took personal responsibility for even the smallest tasks. His reliability stood out so much that the store’s owners trusted him with ordering inventory, managing accounts, and eventually running the entire operation whenever they were away. His steady character—not flash or ambition—proved he could be trusted with more.
That faithfulness paid off. The owners later invited Penney to become a partner in a new store, giving him far more responsibility than he had ever held before. He poured the same diligence into that opportunity, and it eventually grew into the nationwide J.C. Penney Company. His rise wasn’t sudden or glamorous—it was the natural reward for someone who quietly proved his worth day after day until greater responsibility became the obvious next step.
The Apostle Paul says something a little surprising in his second letter to the believers in Corinth: followers of Jesus will one day appear before His judgment seat.
2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
This isn’t to judge whether or not the believer is saved. That judgment was already made when Jesus took our place on the cross, God raised Him from the dead, and we believed in that resurrection and confessed Christ as our Lord.
The judgment seat talked about here is the one where the faithful receive their assignments in the world to come based on the good works we did for Him in our lives.
Echoes In Eternity
Our words and actions now will follow us into God’s heaven-on-earth, and when each of us appears before Jesus Christ, He will decide who can be entrusted with which responsibilities as His rule reaches over the whole new and glorious world.
We will have jobs to do in that new world. What an amazing and wonderful eternity God has in store for us! No more death, sickness, pain, or evil.
Nothing done in our lives is meaningless; it all follows us into an endless eternity in an endless universe with the job of keeping God’s creation running and in good order, where we will once again be the full, shining bearers of God’s image.
Earning Some Crowns
The Bible also tells us about our coming rewards and responsibilities and describes them as crowns.
There is the crown of righteousness for those who love Christ’s appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
A crown of life is promised to those who love the Lord and patiently endure the troubles of life.
James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
A crown of glory is given to faithful shepherds of God’s people.
1 Peter 5:3-4 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
And an imperishable crown is promised to those who are disciplined and run the marathon of life in faith.
1 Corinthians 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
See, God remembers every patient, faithful good work, every resisted temptation, and all of our obedient acts done in love. There is nothing that we do for Him that disappears or is forgotten.
Our rewards and new jobs in God’s heaven-on-earth are real and waiting for us to claim them by what we do in the here-and-now.
Jesus often used stories, called parables, to teach His followers important lessons. One of those lessons is that if you’re faithful with small things now, God will trust you with bigger things later.
In the coming kingdom and the new heaven‑on‑earth, that means real responsibility—leadership, creativity, and purpose.
Luke 19:17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
Your character—the kind of person you decide to be—takes work. You have to practice to develop good qualities like courage, patience, honesty, love, and wisdom. And sometimes facing hard things and going through hard times can be God’s way of helping you shape that good character.
Those good qualities you develop aren’t for this life only, they don’t disappear; they continue into eternity.
What Will Follow You?
Revelation 14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
Your works are the things you do and the words you speak.
Good works are the ones you do out of love for God and His people. Those works add value to the world around you and they glorify our heavenly Father.
Not-so-good works are the ones that are selfish and dishonest – they don’t glorify God and they aren’t helpful to others around you. In fact, sometimes they can even be harmful.
That means the good works you do now don’t vanish. They show up again in the world to come. What kind of works do you want following you into God’s new heaven-on-earth?
Practicing For Your Future Job
In the future kingdom, we will serve and reign with Him.
Revelation 22:3–5 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
That means that the good character we build now prepares us to rule and serve forever in God’s restored creation.
This life is not a waiting room. It’s a training ground for the new life in the kingdom.
Lucas dumped his big bin of Legos onto the carpet, but he pushed aside the faded, chewed‑up bricks without a second glance. Today he was building a castle, and not just any castle—his masterpiece. He wanted the bright, solid, perfectly‑shaped pieces, the ones that clicked together with that satisfying snap. He searched for the best towers, the cleanest walls, and the strongest foundation. Anything cracked, bent, or worn‑out got tossed into a little “not‑good‑enough” pile off to the side.
As the castle grew taller, Lucas stepped back and admired it. Using only the best pieces made the whole thing stronger, sturdier, and way more impressive. He realized something: if he wanted to build something that would last, he couldn’t use junk. He needed quality.
Now And Forever
The Bible teaches us that what we do now matters forever.
A lot of people think this life is just “practice” and the real stuff starts when God’s grand plan is realized and we are with Him and each other in God’s heaven‑on‑earth future. But the Bible actually teaches something even more awesome.
The old saying, “You can’t take it with you when you go,” isn’t entirely true. You will take something with you from this life into the world and age to come.
Not your smartphone or your Pokémon card collection—but your choices, your character, your love, your faithfulness. Those things last.
Choose The Best Legos
In the Bible, the Apostle Paul says our lives are like a building project. Some people build with gold—good choices, love, serving others, following Jesus. Others build with hay—selfish choices, laziness, ignoring God.
1 Corinthians 3:12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
When Jesus returns, everything gets tested as if in a fire. The good stuff lasts. The junk burns away. This doesn’t mean you’re in danger of losing the gift of everlasting life with God—but what you build with matters.
Next, we’ll look closer at what all of this means.
Have you ever heard someone say, “God has a plan for your life”?
Well, He doesn’t.
The Bible doesn’t teach that God has a detailed personal plan and schedule for every decision in every life or that there is only one specific career, spouse, or path that God has predetermined for you.
Instead, God guides each of us as we choose our own paths and make our own decisions.
Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.
As we have already seen, God has an overall grand plan for His creation and His people, and you and I are invited to participate in His purposes. He is directing history to victory, and we make real choices and walk our own paths within God’s purposes.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
So, our heavenly Father doesn’t have a strict script for each of us to follow. He has a great purpose and asks us to walk and work together with Him in that purpose in a way that fits our own talents, personality, and dreams.
God Knows You
Even though God doesn’t plan every detail of your life, He still knows your heart, cares about even the smallest things in your life, and loves you more than you can imagine.
Sometimes in the Bible God calls specific people to do specific things, like Noah building an ark, but it’s always up to the person He calls whether or not to do what God asks. Free will is never taken away.
It could be that you are called to a specific purpose, but don’t make the mistake of sitting around and doing nothing while you wait for God to tell you what to do.
Plug into God’s grand plan by choosing a path and walking that path boldly, and as you do that, listen for His guidance.
Proverbs 3:5–6 Trust in the Lord… and he shall direct thy paths.
Culley’s family was in that strange in-between time where the old house didn’t feel like home anymore, but the new one wasn’t home yet either. Boxes lined the hallway like a cardboard parade. Everyone knew their job. Dad handled the heavy stuff and kept a checklist on the fridge. Mom sorted and labeled boxes. Culley’s sister wrapped dishes in newspaper and stacked them in the right bins. Even Culley had a role: he carried lighter boxes to the garage and taped the bottoms so they wouldn’t bust. Nobody had to guess what to do, because they weren’t just “cleaning up”—they were moving toward a new place, together.
Two days before moving day, Culley’s friend Tim stopped by after school. He stepped over a row of boxes and stared at the half-empty living room like it had been robbed. “What happened in here?” Tim asked, confused. Culley shrugged and kept taping.
Tim wandered from room to room, picking up a roll of tape, putting it down, then lifting a marker like it was a strange tool from another planet. “Do you want me to help?” he asked, but his voice sounded unsure—like he didn’t know what “help” even meant in a house that looked like it was coming apart. Culley pointed toward the garage and said, “We’re moving across town. This all makes sense if you know what it is we’re doing.” Tim blinked, and Culley saw it click—without the big picture, you don’t know your part. But once you see the purpose, even a little box in your hands suddenly matters.
“…without the big picture, you don’t know your part. But once you see the purpose, even a little box in your hands suddenly matters.”
Now that we understand God’s grand plan a little better, we’re going to start exploring how the things we do in our daily lives help plug us into that plan. Because what you do matters, and when you see how you fit into the big picture and discover your part, your life becomes an exciting, meaningful adventure.
Coming Attractions
So, moving ahead in our quest we’ll be exploring some of the ways you can plug into God’s grand plan and pursue your own dreams while doing it.
Here’s where we’re going:
Does God have a plan for your life? Hmmmmm…
How do you know what you’re “supposed” to be doing?
Does what you do now matter in God’s heaven on earth forever?
Some common sense tips and life recipes for living the dream!
And remember—moving day will be here before you know it.
Wells sat at the kitchen table while his mom stirred a pot of soup, watching the steam curl into the air. He had been thinking hard about something all afternoon. “Mom,” he finally asked, resting his chin in his hands, “what color is love?” His mother smiled at the question and turned off the stove, pulling out a chair beside him. She told him love wasn’t just one color—it was all kinds of colors depending on how you see it. “Love can be red when it’s strong and brave,” she said, “like when someone protects you. It can be warm gold like sunshine when someone makes you feel safe. It can be soft blue when someone listens to you, and gentle green when someone helps you grow.”
Wells thought about this quietly, imagining love as a bright painting made of many shades blending together. His mom brushed his hair back and added, “But if I had to choose one color, I’d say love looks like whatever color your heart needs most at the moment.” Wells looked at her, noticing the warmth in her eyes and the comfort of her smile, and decided that love, at least right then, looked like the warm amber glow of the kitchen light and the feeling of his mother’s hand holding his.
What does God look like?
Well first of all, God isn’t an old man with a white beard up in the sky tossing lightning bolts down on us.
John 4:24 a God is Spirit…
God is Spirit—not a body, not a face, and not a shape. You can’t take a picture of Him. But remember, “spirit” doesn’t mean ghost or wispy fog. It means a reality beyond what we can see with our eyes.
John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
We can’t see God with our eyes but Jesus shows us exactly what God is like, and we can see that with our hearts and with the Spirit that God has put inside us.
John 14:9 b …he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus in the Bible – not what he may have looked like physically, but what kind of person He was, and is — His love and compassion, His power and His mercy.
When God Comes To Live With Us
One day, God will once again live with us on earth. It’s possible that then we will be able to see more of His glory—more of what He “looks like.”
Revelation 21:1-5 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
Until then, we look at Jesus… and we see the heart of God.
Until then, we should be busy finding ways to plug into God’s grand plan right now, today. That means doing things and living our daily lives in ways that make our own dreams come true and God’s dream for us a reality.
During the brutal winter of 1777–1778, George Washington and the Continental Army were encamped at Valley Forge. His troops were freezing, starving, and discouraged. The American fight for freedom itself seemed close to failure. Washington faced a tough choice: continue the struggle despite the hardship, or quit and give up the fight.
Washington privately prayed, asking God for wisdom, strength, and guidance in the decision before him. He chose to stay and fight—trusting that God would sustain their efforts. The army endured the winter, came out stronger, and eventually won the victory in the American Revolutionary War.
No Robots, Please
God doesn’t want robots who are forced to obey Him – He wants a family, individuals who love Him freely. God doesn’t make us do the right thing or the wrong thing, He gives us the free will to choose
Washington freely chose a course of action, asked for God’s help, and acted in faith. His decision—made with God’s help—shaped history and shows how our choices and God’s guidance can work together.
But along with the freedom to make good choices comes the freedom to make terrible choices. It’s not really freedom if you don’t have the freedom to make the wrong choice.
And sometimes when people make terrible choices, other people get hurt and valuable things get destroyed. God allows people to do bad things, and that means sometimes those bad things happen to good people.
Three Things to Remember
First, you can’t blame God for the bad things people do—that’s on them, not God. The good will be rewarded and the bad will have to face consequences, now and/or in the time to come.
Second, God can and does shield His people, those who seek His divine protection from harm as they ask in faith. Everyone else is on their own, and if they live outside God’s promise of protection, it’s because they choose to be on their own.
There are times when people of faith will voluntarily go against human evil knowing that they may be harmed or even killed. Their reasons for doing that are between God and them.
There are also times when people of faith wander outside the King’s protection through disobedience, ignoring warnings, or plain old rebellion. Bad things can happen when that occurs.
Third, all suffering and evil will be redeemed by God in the future, so trust in the ultimate purpose and plan of God to make things right.
While it’s sometimes hard to understand why bad things happen and why good people suffer—whether by the evil things other people do or by natural disaster or disease—the things suffered now, no matter how long they last, will seem like a tiny mosquito bite compared to the marvelous eternity God has planned for us.
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory…
More Than Conquerors
God doesn’t force anyone to do the right thing any more than he forces anyone to believe on Jesus Christ as Savior. We each have complete free-will and we all live with the benefits, and the consequences of that amazing freedom, now and forever.
Romans 8:35-37 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
Let’s use our free will to do some good—to do some conquering—through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
So everything will be hunky dory after Jesus returns and we live together in heaven on earth forever. Great. But what about now?
Why does God allow death and disease, earthquakes, fires, and floods, and horrible things to happen?
Special Connection
When God first set up His creation He gave Adam and Eve the job of taking care of it and of ruling “over all the earth.” God gave them power and wisdom, through their special connection with Him by way of His Spirit, to have control over the world and nature.
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
But there was one condition God set:
Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Well, they disobeyed God and broke the condition He set. Although they didn’t die physically, the special connection with God that gave them the wisdom and power to be good rulers over creation died and was broken.
And so the world was broken as well, and still is. Without the special connection of God’s Spirit to give people the wisdom and power to take authority over the forces of nature, nature can and will cause harm and death, by everything from earthquakes to microscopic diseases.
God put the fate of His creation into human hands, and because humans broke it would take human hands to repair it. That’s where Jesus comes in, but we’ll get to that a bit later.
Authority
When Adam and Eve gave up their special connection with the Creator by their own choice they also gave up their rulership of the world. So the one who talked them into disobeying God was the one who took over that rulership—the “serpent,” the Devil.
Luke 4:5-6 And the devil, taking him (Jesus) up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
The Devil is the ruler of this world. He is the one who causes evil, death, and bad things to happen. To put it in legal terms, God is perfectly fair, He gave Adam and Eve rulership over the world, it was theirs to do with as they wished and God honored that. In turn, Adam and Eve gave their rulership to the Serpent and because it was theirs to give, God must honor that as well.
But God has also planned a way to get the rulership of the world back into the right hands, and that is through Jesus Christ.
For believers in Christ, the Spirit, power, and wisdom of God have been given back to us and we can once again overcome the powers of evil through the name of Jesus Christ and by His work, because He has reclaimed what Adam lost.
Matthew 28:16 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
The Devil’s authority over the world is only for a short time, and soon it will be completely gone forever. For now, we claim what Jesus has won back for us and wait patiently for the final victory.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Next, we’ll talk about how human free will works and why that’s important in understanding why sometimes bad things happen to good people.
