How to Make a Plan
By: Matthew Travis
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” — James 4:13–16
The Value of a Plan
Most of us instinctively understand the value of a plan. A plan gives shape to our goals and direction to our days. Some plans are simple: a grocery list, a to-do list at work, or the route we take when construction blocks our usual drive. Other plans are much larger and more complex: preparing for a wedding, saving for retirement, or coordinating a cross-country trip.
In every case, planning can help us avoid pitfalls, stay focused on what matters, and move intentionally toward what we desire. It keeps us from drifting aimlessly and instead anchors us in purpose. Personally, I have always been a planner. Ask anyone close to me and they will tell you that Matthew loves a good plan! Both professionally and personally, I lean toward structure, lists, and foresight. While I have learned—often with effort—to leave room for spontaneity, my natural bent is to prepare for the future and think several steps ahead.
Even if you do not share my enthusiasm, chances are you can think of something in your life that required planning. Perhaps it was a financial goal, a career move, or simply making sure dinner is on the table at a reasonable hour. Planning is woven into the fabric of life because it helps us steward what we’ve been given and work toward what we hope for.
Planning for What Matters
One of the clearest examples of planning in my professional life is retirement. People come to me from all kinds of backgrounds with different circumstances, but most share the same hope: to one day step away from work and enjoy the fruit of their labor. They want a plan that makes this possible. As a financial planner, this is where I thrive. I get to walk with them, create a pathway, and help them think intentionally about their money and future.
And here is the integration of my personal faith with my profession: planning cannot be separated from God’s truth. If I only help people plan for their future in regards to money without pointing them toward the reality that God holds their tomorrow, I have missed the bigger picture. The Bible doesn’t dismiss planning—in fact, it encourages wisdom and foresight—but it does warn us about the posture of our hearts when we plan.
That tension has led me to wrestle with two questions:
How should I approach planning at the very beginning?
How should I respond when my plans inevitably change?
How to Approach Planning
James, the brother of Jesus, offers clarity.
“What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” – James 4
He writes that to make plans without acknowledging God’s will is arrogance. Why? Because we are not God. We cannot see the future, and we have no control over the unfolding of tomorrow, let alone thirty years from now.
At the outset, then, planning must begin with humility. It must start with submission to the God who rules over all creation. To many, that may sound restrictive. Yet in reality, it is freeing. Think about a car designed by a master engineer. Who best understands its purpose and how it should run—the random driver who jumps behind the wheel, or the one who built it from the ground up? So it is with our lives. We find true freedom not by ignoring the Designer, but by aligning with his intent.
C.S. Lewis captured it memorably: “You can’t go against the grain of the universe and not expect to get splinters.” When we plan apart from God, we end up working against the very fabric of reality. But when we submit our plans to him, we discover a life that runs as it was meant to.
What, then, is God’s plan? The Bible is full of stories and declarations that answer this question, but a succinct summary is given in the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” Every plan we make, from the smallest list to the largest life goal, should be held up against that standard. Does this glorify God? Does this help me enjoy him more? If not, perhaps the plan itself is misaligned from the start.
How to Respond When Plans Change
Even the best plans rarely unfold exactly as we intend. If you’ve ever planned a wedding, a family vacation, or even just a weekend project, you know this well. Life is full of unexpected variables. Circumstances shift. People change. Events surprise us.
James reminds us why: “You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.” The image is humbling. We are temporary. We are finite. We are not the ones who hold the future.
When plans change, the temptation is frustration, discouragement, or even despair. But Scripture invites us into a different response: trust. God knows the future. He is sovereign over what unfolds. And—this is crucial—he is good. The question every believer must wrestle with is this: Is it good that God is in control?
The gospel answers with a resounding yes. God is not a tyrant bent on ruining our plans. He is a loving Father who desires our good more than we do. He sent his Son to rescue us, not because we had our lives perfectly mapped out, but because we didn’t. The cross is the greatest reminder that when our plans crumble, God’s plan is still at work—and it is better than anything we could design.
Holding Plans with Open Hands
So how do we live this out? Practically, it means making wise, thoughtful, intentional plans while holding them with open hands. It means writing our calendars in pencil, not permanent marker. It means saying with sincerity, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
For me, this plays out in both small and big ways. I still make grocery lists and detailed itineraries. I still sit down with clients to map out 30-year retirement strategies. But beneath it all is a growing posture of surrender. I can plan, but God directs. I can prepare, but God decides. My responsibility is to be faithful in the moment and flexible when life shifts.
This posture doesn’t erase the joy of planning—it actually deepens it. When plans succeed, I can give thanks. When they fail, I can trust. Either way, God is present, and his plan is better than mine.
Conclusion
Planning is a gift. For some, it comes naturally; for others, it feels like a burden. But whether you love spreadsheets or prefer spontaneity, Scripture offers wisdom: make your plans, but do so with humility. Align them with God’s purposes. Remember that you are a mist, but God is eternal.
True wisdom is not in perfecting your five-year outline or never missing a step in your retirement roadmap. True wisdom is submitting every plan to the Lord who holds tomorrow. In that surrender, you will find not only clarity, but also freedom. Because the end goal is not simply a well-executed plan, but a well-lived life—one that glorifies God and enjoys him forever. Amen.
Works Cited
ESV Bible Verses