It is easy in the work of ministry to become a box checker. Each day has its own list of things to get done. Sometimes that list gets long.

I admit box checking is something I fall into at times. I remember when I was a young minister and the idea of keeping a daily schedule and agenda was introduced to me. I said it was not a godly principle to live by man made lists. I was told by the person doing the training that if I did not learn to keep an agenda and live by a plan I would never be effective.

As I progressed in ministry the words of that particular teacher proved to be true. Life without a plan and without goals is chaos.

But what I said to the teacher also is true, at least in part. When the plan becomes all consuming, when the plan becomes god and takes God’s place, it becomes ungodly. Many of us become idolaters and slaves to our agendas. When the plan becomes the point or when my plans become more important than God’s plans then…Houston we have a problem.

So there is this tension. I can’t live effectively without making a plan, but in making the plan I face a temptation to make the plan more important than God. How do I avoid the trap?

Here are three things I do to avoid making an idol of my agenda:

1. Pray before you plan. Bring God into the planning process and ask Him for guidance as you lay outpour weekly agenda.

2. Be a God first people second planner projects third planner. Remember that ministry is about God and people not programs or plans. When ministry becomes just a list of projects to get done you no longer have ministry you just have busy work. Every ministry plan must include God’s prayer plan for the minister (and if you don’t have prayer plan from God you don’t have a godly plan), and it must have connection to the community as its goal.

3. Learn to laugh with God at your plans. There is an old saying, “Man plans and God laughs.”

Even when we have done our best to pray through our plans and to prioritize the right things in our planning, there will be times when we miss it in our planning badly. I have had to learn to let my plans go when God shows up “out of the blue” to change them. I have had to learn to make light of these changes and to go with the flow of God’s interruption of the agenda. In fact, I am convinced that sometimes God allows me to make a plan He is going to ruin, just to see if I am willing to sacrifice my plans at the altar of obedience to Him.

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU DO TO KEEP YOUR PLANNING FROM BECOMING AN IDOL IN YOUR LIFE?