To-Do Lists

The semester is finally coming up to pace, and it's time to start writing out the lengthy to-do lists. I always love to make a list and then start scratching things off one by one - always working towards that oh-so-rewarding check mark. Yet the list can be daunting at times.

My roommates and I have begun to joke about the sort of things we put on our to do lists. The list for a typical day might look like:
Plan out course of my life
Do laundry
Restore our culture's concept of human dignity
Figure out impact of philosophy on our current society from Plato to Hume
Call boss
Save the West (and don't forget the rest of the world, too.)

All in a day's work, right? Okay, maybe not.

At this time in our lives when we are faced with pressure, expectations, and our own lofty aspirations, it's so easy to become overwhelmed with the sense that weight of the world is on our shoulders. Luckily, however, we don't actually have to save the world. There is another who has borne this burden for us. Our blessed savior, who is infinitely more powerful that we are, has already saved the world. He now asks that we simply follow him and do his work.

In Ephesians 2, Paul writes that we are saved by grace, and,
"created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before-hand, that we should walk in them."

This is a much needed reminder that it is God, not ourselves, who charts out the course of our lives and decides what work we will do. He has set out tasks for us, and he will see them through to completion by his grace. Indeed, apart from him we can do nothing, but we can do all things through him who strengthens us.

Next time you freak out about your to-do list, remember that the most important things have already been checked off. And as for the rest, you're not alone on the job.