A Look at “God’s Wonderful Plan” Theology

Let me start by saying this isn’t an attack on anyone’s faith or church style because we are passionately multi-faith. What’s also important to understand about Bridging Austin is that we believe God’s plan for us and the church is rooted in spirituality first, even when that means setting aside other pursuits. Another motivation for this article is to challenge the increasingly popular idea that Christianity is about self-improvement or personal comfort. In our community, it’s more about shaping how we live together in ways that create harmony and justice, and through that, we reveal the love and grace God has extended towards us.

Try this phrase on: “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.” How did it make you feel? Probably great, at least at first. That is why it has become one of the most recognizable phrases in American evangelical Christianity. But did you know that it is not found anywhere in the Bible or in church history? Those words first appeared as the opening stanza in an evangelism tract titled The Four Spiritual Laws, written by Cru’s founder, Bill Bright, in 1952. The handout attempted to summarize the “important themes” regarding God’s love and purposes found in the Bible.

Bright’s strategy was not aimed at churches, seminaries, or believing Christians, but at unreached youth. I do find that enterprise commendable, but there is a certain irony in the fact that, if those were the important things, it took nearly 1900 years for these truths to become “the main thing”. In hindsight, we can see that his well-intentioned efforts have produced a form of Christianity that is distinctly modern, and more specifically, American.

The truth is, the theology behind the phrase “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life” has surprising origins. It is more rooted in Norman Vincent Peale’s 1952 book The Power of Positive Thinking—which argued that religious faith could improve one’s material life—than in historical Christianity or Judaism. That is because Peale, like Bright, reduced Christianity down to a checklist of beliefs and behaviors that, if followed, guaranteed practical benefits. At the time, critics like Reinhold Niebuhr, a highly influential American Protestant theologian and ethicist, recognized that Peale had turned God into a resource to be tapped into rather than a person deserving of worship, making Christianity me-centered rather than God-centered.

That kind of theology has created what sociologist Christian Smith calls Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. What in the world is that? Basically, it is the belief that God just wants us to be nice to each other, help us feel better when we’re down, and make sure good and decent folks go to heaven. This therapeutic approach to faith stands in stark contrast to what scripture actually reveals about God’s plans and purposes and his nature. Let me illustrate by turning the spotlight on one of the most popular passages of scripture.

When Jeremiah 29:11 promises “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,” God is speaking to the nation of Israel collectively during their Babylonian exile, promising restoration after seventy years of captivity. Most individuals hearing that promise would die in exile, and so it wasn’t about personal comfort but about God’s faithfulness to his covenant people across generations. Throughout church history, from the early martyrs to the Pietists who called for repentance and holiness, Christian teaching has emphasized dying to self, bearing one another’s burdens, and expecting suffering, or at a minimum discomfort, as part of discipleship. Jesus himself warned his followers to expect persecution, hardship, and the world’s hatred.

The “wonderful plan” framing reflects modern Western idealism more than biblical theology. Scripture is far more concerned with God’s purposes for all creation, the church as a body, and the coming kingdom than with personal fulfillment. Repackaging the gospel as primarily about what individuals will receive rather than how they must live has created a distorted Christianity that would be unrecognizable to the followers of Jesus throughout most of church history.

My conception of biblical faith is rooted in the time when God first appeared to Moses, calling him to communicate with Israel as a people. That perspective is what has led me back to Christianity’s foundational starting point—our Jewish heritage. When I wrote my third book, The Sounds of Love and Grace, I wanted people to hear the Ten Commandments given to Moses not as rigid rules to follow but as “sounds” that, when played together, create harmony in life. To me, this mirrors Judaism’s understanding of Torah life, where the law is not just a list of dos and don’ts but a living, relational gift meant to shape how we live day by day. It may stretch you a little to learn that in the Jewish tradition, obedience is not about legalistic compliance; it’s about learning to live rightly with God, with one another, and with the world around us. That is why I have suggested in my book that the Ten Commandments are akin to musical notes that can be creatively woven into our community life, producing songs of justice and peace that guide everyone involved toward lives that reflect God’s love and grace. That is what we are about, and I hope some of what I have written here is music to your ears, and that you decide to join us.