God’s Simple Plan for a Human Life

Many people today feel overwhelmed not because life lacks meaning, but because it feels scattered. We juggle faith, family, work, responsibility, and rest, often carrying a quiet sense that we are failing somewhere. Even good things can start to feel heavy.

From the beginning, God did not give us a complicated system to manage. He gave us a simple way of life — an order that brings peace when we live inside it. When life feels confusing or too full, returning to this order helps us come home.

1. Relationship with God

2. Love of family & neighbor

3. Work

4. Rest

Relationship with God

(starting with receiving God’s love)

Life begins with God, not with effort. Before anything is asked of us, God gives. In the Book of Genesis, God creates, blesses, and places humanity in a world already prepared. The first human experience is not work or responsibility, but being addressed and loved.

Faith is meant to begin here as well. Learning about God, praying, worshipping, and reading Scripture are not ways to earn His attention. They are ways of staying close to the One who already wants us. Christianity does not start with reaching up to God, but with receiving what He freely gives.

“We love because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)

When our relationship with God is rooted in receiving His love, everything else finds its place.

Love of Family & Neighbor

After relationship with God comes relationship with others. “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Before productivity or achievement, God gives family and community.

This love is lived in ordinary, life-giving ways: being present at home, keeping bedtime routines, making dinner, sharing meals, helping a neighbor, drinking moderately and enjoying time with friends. It is love expressed through showing up, creating rhythm, and making life feel safe and shared.

The Church calls the family the domestic church because this is where love becomes real and visible. From there, love naturally extends outward to neighbors, friends, and the wider community.

Jesus joins love of God and love of neighbor together because they belong together:

“You shall love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37–39)

Work

(loving engagement)

Work is a good gift from God. In Genesis, Adam is placed in the garden “to till it and keep it.” Work allows us to participate in creation, provide for others, and contribute something real to the world.

Work, rightly lived, is loving engagement — attention given to what has been entrusted to us. It can be creative, disciplined, satisfying, and meaningful. Through work, we build, serve, and take responsibility for a portion of the world.

When work is held within the larger rhythm of life, it becomes a source of dignity and purpose. It has a place alongside worship, family, and rest, and it is good.

Rest

(Sabbath, joy, and recreation)

God rests, and He commands rest. Not because life is a burden, but because rest completes life. Sabbath is stopping and trusting that the world continues without us. Joy is allowing ourselves to delight in what God has given. Recreation is being renewed through food, beauty, story, laughter, nature, and companionship.

Rest protects everything else. It allows love to stay warm, work to stay humane, and faith to remain peaceful. God gives rest because He wants us to live fully, not just function.

“The Sabbath was made for man.” (Mark 2:27)

Something to Walk Away With

God’s plan for human life is not complicated. It is kind and livable:

1. Relationship with God

2. Love of family & neighbor

3. Work

4. Rest

When life is lived in this order, it becomes steadier and more humane. You don’t need to do everything at once or do it perfectly. You only need to stay rooted in what God has already given.

You are allowed to worship.

You are allowed to love ordinary life.

You are allowed to work with care.

You are allowed to rest and enjoy.

This is not a strategy for improvement.

It is a way of living that lets life be good again.