You were created for more than just going through the motions. Searching and striving to discover the point of life is not the point of life. It’s not just about the dash between your birth and your death. God created you with an eternal purpose. Your talents and passions, your opportunities and circumstances, even your flaws and struggles, are all part of the groove carved out for your life before time began. A groove designed by God to make you holy and bring Him glory.
God created you with an eternal purpose.
The enemy doesn’t want you to realize this. He wants you to be distracted trying to figure life out so you miss the opportunity to live life all-in. He wants to convince you you’re missing something so you’ll stay busy looking for whatever that might be. If he has his way, you’ll live life focused on things that have no eternal value and can never satisfy your eternal soul.
For a long time, that was me!
I had asked Jesus to be my Savior when I was young, but I hadn’t truly made Him my Lord. I was living life with Jesus on the peripheral. A few Bible verses in my pocket. Praying when necessary. Church every now and then. Nothing of real substance to hold on to. But I knew I was created for more! I could feel the pull of the life God intended for me. I could see Jesus out of the corner of my eye. I knew He needed to be front and center, but I didn’t know how to get Him there. There was too much junk getting in the way.
If I wanted my life to be different, I needed to start making different choices. It was time to move towards my Savior, and it started with opening His Word. I started to dig into my Bible. I attended Bible Studies. I listened to Christian radio. I read Christian books.
I started to saturate my life with the Word of God, and as I did, I realized some things:
(Forgive the analogies, but they work. After all, Jesus taught His followers with parables.)
I had been living in a black hole and allowing it to block out the light. The cacophony of chaos surrounding me was drowning out the sound of God’s voice. It was time to stop and listen to my Savior.
I had been running and running like a hamster on a wheel and getting nowhere. It was time to change my perspective. To slow down and focus on what matters. It was time to let Jesus take control.
I had been stumbling through life on uneven ground. I was trying to find something to hold on to and constantly losing my footing. It was time to live like I really did trust God with my life. To believe His promises and rest in His protection and provision.
As I spent time in the Bible, my perspective started to shift. I began to see my life through the lens of God’s Word and things began to change. Jesus was moving from the peripheral to the center. The more I realized Jesus is all I need, and the more I lived like that was true, the more I saw God move in my life. There was more love. More joy. More peace and patience. More kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. More gentleness. More self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) God was renewing my mind. I was being transformed.
Jesus was moving from the peripheral to the center.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. – Romans 12:2 ESV
Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like Him. – Colossians 3:10 NLT
I’m still on the journey, and it will continue until He brings me home. But I intend to stay on course. I have no desire to go back to the black hole or the hamster wheel. I don’t intend to get back in the driver’s seat or to stumble through life without trusting God. I know I was created for more and I intend to keep Jesus at the center of my life and live life all-in for Him!
