Are you living out your purpose or just coasting through life?

It seems that there are at least two "realms" of existence… one of just-get-through-the-day busyness and the other of living out the purposes God specifically created you for. I don’t know about you, but I am quite familiar with trying to just make it through the day, then the next day, then the next, etc. The problem is, days just keep coming.

Boring days. Stressful days. Really awful days. Some OK days.

Nothing really changes much or gets better in that realm of existing. We exist to simply exist and survive. Not a very pleasant or fulfilling way to live, is it? If you feel like you are in that realm right now, I am sincerely asking you this question- how is it working for you?

I was recently in a conversation with someone who nearly sucked the life out of me. I’m sure you have had one of those conversations with someone as well. I say conversation, but it was more like I was simply an outlet for this woman to vent to about all her frustrations with life. Everything was awful (in her eyes.) Her physical condition, her lack of time to so things she wanted to do, her hours at work, what people in her life did or didn’t do for her. It went on and on. I didn’t say much at the time, I tried to dig some positive points out of her list and bring them to her attention, but she moved right along to the next problem. I left this conversation feeling so burdened with all her junk, I can’t imagine how she must feel inside! My heart was hurting for her. I wondered “Wow. How did she get like that?” and an even better question- “How can she change it?”

There are so many ways to tackle this topic. I’m not entirely sure where to begin. There’s just so much I want to write about it! This is something that God has been working out in my life over the past six months or so and I want to share lots of different thoughts and points with you that might lead you to a better understanding of living out your God-given purpose as well. Some may apply to you and some may not, but just stick with me.

So, I’m going to take my time with this and see where it goes. Stay tuned in to my next several posts as I explore various topics and subtopics that all point back to this---

Let’s stop wasting time coasting along and start living out our unique purposes.

If God is so loving, why does he let bad things happen to me?

Countless people have pondered that question. Good people and bad people. Young people and old people. The fact is, bad stuff happens to us all. Really crummy stuff. Heart-wrenching stuff. It might make sense at times to assume that God is mad at us, or He is simply too busy to care about what we are going through. I don’t believe either one of those statements are true.

First let me say that many bad things happen because of other people’s actions towards us, directly or indirectly. This is just part of living in a fallen world. We all have free will and sometimes the choices we make have not-so-great consequences. Considering this, I do believe that God is sovereign over everything and He can turn rotten things around to be used for good.

God does have a purpose for letting us go through difficult times. One possible purpose is to draw us closer to Him. When things are going great and life is smooth-sailing, we are more likely to forget about God. Sometimes, it’s only when we experience difficulties that we pray and begin to seek Him again. When things get so rough that we are at the end of our rope, it is then that we have to hand things over and rely completely on Him. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, he wrote:


7-10Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn't get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. (2 Cor 12:7-10, The Message)


No one is certain what Paul’s handicap was (some translations call it a “thorn in his flesh”) but he was actually thankful for it because it forced him to rely on God’s strength instead of his own. He also writes about a difficult time on one of his missionary journeys:


It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally…(2 Cor 1:8-9, The Message)


I think God would rather allow us to experience troubles, in order to draw us closer to Him, than to let us live a carefree life with no thought ever given to Him.

Another possible purpose for pain is growth. We learn things when we go through difficult times. We mature. I’m sure we can all think back to memorable times in our lives when we seemed to do a lot of maturing. These times are also usually filled with challenges. James wrote:


2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way. (James 1:2-4, The Message)


It could also be that God is disciplining you. When I first considered it, I thought “Really? That seems harsh that He would actually intend for me to go through pain instead of just allowing it to happen.” But, I found the following passage in Hebrews that says just that:


..My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline,
but don't be crushed by it either.
It's the child he loves that he disciplines;
the child he embraces, he also corrects.
God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves… (Hebrews 12:5-7, The Message)


As a parent of a three-year-old and an almost-one-year-old, I understand the importance of discipline. If we did not discipline them, they would become spoiled brats who had the run of the house and got into all sorts of trouble, likely harming themselves in the process! We discipline them because we love them and want them to grow up and be the best men they can be. Ok God, I get it. The parenting analogies always bring it home. :)

Another possible purpose is one I had never thought of until recently. God may be allowing us to suffer so that our actions during our troubles can be a testimony to others who don’t know Him and He can be ultimately glorified through it all. Our true character is shown in difficult times. What do you do when things aren’t going exactly how you would like? Do you throw a pity party for yourself and whine to everyone you know so you can get their attention and secure an outlet for your complaining? Or, do you hold fast to what you know to be true of God and trust He is in control? A person who is experiencing unimaginable pain and still displaying true faith in God goes against everything the world does…and is an awesome testimony to God. God can do amazing things through lives such as those. An example in found in Acts when Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into jail on one of their missionary journeys.


25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25, NIV)


I can imagine what the other prisoners were thinking. Here they are, at midnight, locked up with these guys who have just been beaten badly and imprisoned, with no idea of how long they would be in there, and these guys were singing??? Are they out of their minds? Those other prisoners noticed how Paul and Silas were acting in the heart of their troubles. People notice what you do when you are in the middle of tough times too.


Our work as God's servants gets validated—or not—in the details. People are watching us as we stay at our post, alertly, unswervingly . . . in hard times, tough times, bad times; when we're beaten up, jailed, and mobbed….(2 Cor 6:3-5, The Message)


When I see someone staying true to their faith in times of great pain, it makes me think “Wow. That’s real. Their trust in Jesus is completely authentic”…and I want to be like that.

So, what to do now? Maybe you are smack dab in the middle of the most difficult thing you have ever experienced and feel there is no way to get out of it. The first thing to do is to acknowledge that God is sovereign. He is in control of everything and he does love you. So much more than you could ever comprehend. Start by talking to Him, pray his will over the situation. Even Jesus did this while he prayed in the garden shortly before he was arrested and crucified:


41-44He pulled away from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, remove this cup from me. But please, not what I want. What do you want?" At once an angel from heaven was at his side, strengthening him. He prayed on all the harder. Sweat, wrung from him like drops of blood, poured off his face. (Luke 22:41-44, The Message)


Jesus asked that the cup be taken from Him, but also that His father’s will be done. God’s will was not to take that cup away from Jesus, but He did give Him strength to see it through and for His purpose to be fulfilled.

Whatever you do, don’t waste your trials. Come through them having been matured and brought closer to God. Come through them having stayed true to your faith in God as the one who is in control of it all, glorifying Him through your actions so that others can see an example of authentic faith. Realize that He is sovereign and that He does love you. He may or may not resolve the situation as you see fit, but He does have a purpose in it all. Talk to Him, pray that His will be done and that He would give you the strength to see it through.

Adventurously Expectant

I’ve been reading Romans lately and came upon some verses I’d like to share. Paul wrote Romans to the hundreds of Christians in Rome, around A.D. 57- some were Jews who thought of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and some were non-Jews trying to figure out what Jesus had to do with them. They were in debate about how a follower of Jesus ought to live. Rome was a huge city of over a million people, filled with temples to many gods and deified men. There were many amazing written works of poetry and philosophy in the roman culture, and yet this letter has outlasted them all.

In chapter 8, Paul writes about the solution to wanting to serve God with all his heart and mind, but being pulled by sin to do otherwise. The “law” of the Old Testament and all the instructions and rules that went along with it, is described as a band-aid instead of a deep healing of sin. V 1. – Those who enter Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. Isn’t that how we feel when we are struggling to do the “right” thing and continually failing? When we think our righteousness is dependent on our actions and behavior, we can quickly get the feeling of being in a black cloud of failure. V. 3,4- In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. What do we have to do to get out of the black cloud? V. 4 continued- …instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. That’s grace.

I’ll let the next part of the chapter speak for itself-

9-11But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him. Anyone, of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. But for you who welcome him, in whom he dwells—even though you still experience all the limitations of sin—you yourself experience life on God's terms. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive-and-present God who raised Jesus from the dead moves into your life, he'll do the same thing in you that he did in Jesus, bringing you alive to himself? When God lives and breathes in you (and he does, as surely as he did in Jesus), you are delivered from that dead life. With his Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's!
12-14So don't you see that we don't owe this old do-it-yourself life one red cent. There's nothing in it for us, nothing at all. The best thing to do is give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!
15-17This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" God's Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what's coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we're certainly going to go through the good times with him!

I love the description of “adventurously expectant” in verse 15. That is how I want to live. Too many people think living a Christian life is boring and stuffy and restricted. Not so. If it becomes that way, that is our doing, not God’s. Think about it- the infinite being who created the entire universe wants to be in relationship with you and has places for you to go and things for you to do. Obviously, He knows best, so I want to be on board with Him and not off doing my own thing. Something to ponder today- what’s keeping you from living an “adventurously expectant” life with God?

New Year's Resolution

While hanging out with some friends on New Years Eve, the topic of resolutions came up and I realized I did not make one for this year. I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions anyway. Most of us know that we won’t end up keeping them and I don’t see the point in setting myself up for inevitable failure. Most of them are very self-centered and involve improving our appearance, making our lives easier and more comfortable, or making ourselves more successful. Resolutions I have made in the past were shallow and always revolved around self-help of some sort. There’s nothing inherently wrong with trying to improve ourselves or our situations, but I don’t think it should become our main goal in life.

After mulling over some ideas on New Year’s Day, I decided my resolution would be to call or email a few select people at least once per week. People who are important to me, but I tend to let a good amount of time pass between conversations. Mainly because I just get busy and distracted and I know they will always be there to talk to when things slow down. While pondering this, I realized there are some similarities between my relationships with these people and my relationship with God. They have all known me all or most of my life, they love me (even though they know a lot about me), they would make great sacrifices for me, and I do believe a smile appears on their face when they get that phone call or email (or prayer) from me. Even if it has been a great while since we last talked, we can pick up right where we left off like no time has passed at all. This is not to say that talking once every month or two is ideal… if we talked on a more regular basis, our relationship would grow even deeper and we would know each other that much more. Well, God already knows everything about us. He is always there, waiting for us to initiate the conversation that leads to getting to know Him better. James 4:8 tells us to Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Just looking at Jesus’s life tells us the importance of prayer and time spent with God. His life on earth was perfect and sinless, and he still spent a great amount of time with His Father, off alone in prayer. If sinless Jesus needed that prayer time, how much more of that time does someone like me need?

After considering this, here is my refined resolution- to communicate more regularly with my God and to end each day with my knowledge and love of Him having grown deeper than the day before. Will I mess up? Probably. Almost certainly. But it is comforting to know that His grace and forgiveness is there waiting for me instead of some Jillian-type drill instructor. :)