John 9:4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Proverbs 6:6-8 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

If the boat leaks, you plug the holes. If a ship crashes on a rocky shoal, a lighted buoy is installed. If an intersection becomes a traffic hazard, a traffic signal is installed. A vast majority of action is not action at all, it is reaction.

True positive action requires planning. Planning looks down the road. It sees tomorrow with its challenging needs. Whatever the need, true action rises to meet that need before the demand is made. Distant vision sees the promise afar off and makes the necessary preparations far in advance of it.

Too often we are motivated by a pressing circumstance, to try to plug the leaks in a sinking vessel. The response has become an after thought.

God wants us to be prepared for the future, as an individual and as a church.

Lord, as we prepare to enter the new year, help us to be sensitive to Your guidance, so that we can take positive actions according to Your perfect will.

Additional Verses for Study: 1 Chronicles 28:19-20; Haggai 1:3-10, Psalm 90:12; Proverbs 16:3; 19:20-21; Matthew 6:33; 7:24-27; John 15:1-27; Ephesians 5:15-16; James 4:13-17.