I don’t know about you all, but I am a planner. I make lists about everything: groceries, to be read, errands, household chores, etc. I even make lists for others who do not want them, just because I want them to know what they should be doing. (It doesn’t usually work for me to make lists for others, but I stubbornly try, anyway.) So, I am a planner. But do you know who the greatest planner is? JESUS!

From Max Lucado’s devotional, God Came Near, I read this today:

“Jesus planned His own sacrifice. It means Jesus intentionally planted the tree from which His cross would be carved. It means He willingly placed the iron ore in the heart of the earth from which the nails would be cast. It means he voluntarily placed His Judas in the womb of a woman. It means Christ was the One who set in motion the political machinery that would send Pilate to Jerusalem. And it also means He didn’t have to do it—but He did.”

This was eye-opening to me because I had never considered all of the planning that went into the sacrifice that Jesus made for us willingly and obediently. Sometimes my lists seem to overwhelm me, but God did all that He did with a purpose in mind…our salvation. He did not waver and I don’t think He needed a checklist. All He needed was the knowledge that one day His plan would bear fruit and the sacrifice and all of the planning would be worth it.