God’s Future is Perfect
How to join God in His work today and tomorrow
When I was in college, I was young and dumb.
On the weekends, I’d often drive from Berkeley to Davis to hang out with friends. At two o’clock in the morning, I would get in my car and drive home. In Northern California the fog was often so thick that you couldn’t see ten feet in front of you. And because I was young and dumb, I would drive home through that fog at sixty miles an hour. Thinking, what could be on the road this late at night?
By God’s grace, I survived that era of my life.
The reality is that many leaders are driving organizations the same way. Confidently leading at sixty miles an hour even though they only see what’s right in front of them. When that happens, leaders start to drift off course and, eventually, hit something they never saw coming.
When we lead without taking the time to consider what is happening around us, today and tomorrow, we are driving in a fog.
But we do not have to lead this way. Throughout history, God often revealed the future to shape our actions and obedience. Through Pharaoh’s dream, God revealed to Joseph a future of plenty and famine over fourteen years, which allowed him to help a nation survive and thrive. Jeremiah foresaw seventy years of exile, and implored God’s people to live faithfully through that season. Isaiah looked across six centuries and saw a Savior—one who would suffer, and reign, and bring us into a right relationship with God.
You don’t have to be a prophet to understand clues to the future that exist today. Megatrends are the powerful forces that are shaping the world—not over months or years, but over decades. People are having fewer children. The world is rapidly aging. Economic, geopolitical, and religious centers are shifting. AI is changing the nature of human work.
Megatrends are clues that allow us to lift our eyes, look ahead, and act more wisely today.
The decisions we make today become the inheritance of future generations.
By 2050, the students graduating college today will be leading our churches and running our companies. By 2075, the children now in elementary school will be funding Kingdom-building work and governing nations. By 2100, the babies in our church nurseries will be the decision-makers laying a foundation for the next century.
The world they will live and lead in is being built right now. By us. This year. The cultures we define. The systems we create. The convictions we hand down.
Their future holds real challenges and real uncertainty. But, it is not without hope.
In his final letter to seven churches in Asia, John described the ultimate, glorious future: a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, every tribe, every people and language, standing before the throne, worshiping the Lamb (Revelation 7:9–10). We know how God’s story ends.
Our Christian faith is grounded in the conviction that God is sovereign over the past, present, and future. The obedience we are called to is not to perfect the future, but to trust that His future is perfect.
Questions for you and your leadership team:
How much time should we spend studying and understanding the future? 10%? 5%? 1% (2 hours a month)?
What stated or unstated assumptions about the future are baked into our current plan?
How can we better trust in God’s sovereignty in every decision we make?
