Reason #814

What do you want for my life? I ask this all the time. God, what is your will for my life? Am I doing enough? Should I be doing more? Am I being effective and useful for your sake? What do you want for me?

 

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I have a hard time deciphering my will from God’s will, and so I have to ask this a lot. Sometimes, most of the time, I look at my life and I think, “Okay, surely you have bigger things in store for me. Surely, you’ll use me in some miraculous way and be really proud of me.” But what if God is calling me to live out an ordinary, quiet, obedient life? What if God isn’t going to use me to change the entire world? What if I’m never a Beth Moore or Priscilla Schier? What if the only people who read my daily thoughts are all people I know who already love Jesus? Will I be pleasing to Him? Is that what He wants?

 

I woke up with a heavy heart this morning as I considered this question. What is it your calling me to, God? And I thought to myself, “What if I am always an auditor? What if I spend the rest of my working years sitting in a cube in the back of a bank? What if I never get to be some type of motivational speaker or writer, like I’d love to? What if I have children and decide to stay home with them? Then, I am even further removed from people and my impact has decreased. What if I never move to some obscure, third world country and save the lives of the people who live there by sharing the gospel with them? What if I simply serve on a voluntary basis at my church each week rather than plant a church in a place that doesn’t have one on every street corner? What if the only people I really lead to Christ are the ones I give birth to? What if I live out my life in Lubbock, diligently working the 8:00-5:00, mundane, job for the rest of my life? How will God feel about me?”

 

Yet as I thought about these question this morning, God began to flood my mind with His truths. “Whatever you do…do it all for the glory of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 10:31) “And whatever you do, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” (Colossians 3:17) “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord…” (Colossians 3:23) And I thought, “Okay, Lord, I get that. But that’s not going to land me in the Faith Hall of Fame (Hebrews 11).” And He reminded me that it was “by faith,” those people were there. Faith, and faith alone. Sure, they were the “big hitters,” but God commended them solely for their faith “because without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).”

 

We don’t know what God is going to call us to do. We don’t know where He will lead us or what He has in store for our lives. But God needs Godly nurses, doctors, bankers, teachers, police officers, soldiers, engineers, financial planners, secretaries, builders, truck drivers, therapists, and hair dressers. Whatever you are, God needs you. He needs you to be His hands and feet and serve those around you. He needs you to be a light in a dark place. He needs you to set an example to those who watch you every day. He needs you to walk in the truth and share His love. And if you really want to please Him, then be a person of great faith. A person who practices it daily, regardless of the circumstances. A person who trusts God even when it’s hard, even when it hurts. Be of great faith that God will use you, no matter where you are or what you have done. Because it’s by our faith that we are defined. It’s by our faith that we are called out and set apart. And it’s by our faith that we are made right with God.  

 

#814 – Because of our faith, He will do great things through us.

 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2