September/October 2000
Finding Your Direction
YOU CAN GET THERE FROM HERE
by Greg Albrecht
Imagine walking on the beach and finding a bottle washed up on the shore. Inside, you find a personal message from God telling you exactly what to do with your life and when to do it.
Or, perhaps one weekend you discover an old lamp being sold at a yard sale. You take it home, rub it and an angel (not a genie!) appears with precise blueprint-like instructions for what God wants you to do.
God does have a message for your life -- he has a plan for you! But you will not discover God's will for your life in some superstitious or mystical way.
Some believe that God leaves little clever "signs" and "hints" scattered through our lives like a cosmic treasure hunt. God, as some believe, wants us to decipher and interpret these "signs" and "hints" so that we can discover his will. But God has no intention of turning us into Christian fortune-tellers!
One man was once praying about becoming a missionary. Some of his friends told him God wanted him to become a missionary -- while others told him exactly the opposite. The man had already reserved a flight overseas -- on a Boeing 747 and was now praying to God for a final decision. When he finished his prayer, the man looked up and happened to focus on the digital clock on the nightstand by his bed. It was 7:47 p.m. He decided that God had answered his prayer.
Another man felt that God wanted him to give up his profession of farming and become a pastor. He counseled with professionals. He prayed. He talked with his friends. One day, while driving his tractor in his fields, he looked up and saw a cloud formation that seemed to be the letters "P" and "C."
He immediately went home and told his wife that God had given him a sign. The farmer told his wife, "Those letters have to mean, 'Preach Christ.'" His wife thought about it for a minute and responded, "How do you know those letters didn't mean 'Plow corn?'"
The Providence of God
God does care about us. God does hear our prayers. God does have a message and plan for us, but he usually doesn't reveal his plans in specific detail or in mysterious, melodramatic circumstances. He does work through people and events in our lives, but we usually see how he specifically directed us after the fact.
Providence is a word we don't use much today -- in fact its primary use is by theologians, pastors and Bible scholars. But it is a word that describes an important attribute of God. The providence of God means that God cares for all of his creation, that he preserves and upholds his creation by his will and that he guides and directs his creation toward the goal he has in mind.
God's providence means that he knows all about us, cares for us and will ensure that what is best for us is done. Jesus explained this divine attribute when he assured us that God feeds the birds of the air and clothes the lilies of the field -- and that he certainly will take care of his human creation (Matthew 6:25-34).
The Bible reveals that God does involve himself in our lives. Biblical characters experienced guidance, inspiration, direction and encouragement during times of grief, illness, disillusionment and heartache. He worked through circumstances and humans to bring messages to those in "Bible times" -- and he still does today!
The Purpose of Life
What is the purpose of life? What is the meaning of life? Does God have a plan that includes you? Can we ever make sense of the tragedies, catastrophes and disasters that affect all of us?
Some think of Christianity as a life of physical abundance, of health and wealth, of success and prosperity. They misunderstand the words of Jesus when he said in John 10:10, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full" ["abundantly", King James Version]. But Jesus wasn't talking about providing a trouble free life for Christians. Jesus was not guaranteeing that we would never be sick, or that we would never experience financial problems.
God's plan for your life is not centered on the here and now. There is more to this life than what we see, understand and experience in the here and now. This life is not all that there is!
Some time ago I read a short little essay -- perhaps you have read it. I don't know if the essay has a title -- I'm tempted to call it either 1) The Law of the Jungle, or 2) Survival of the Fittest. It says so much about the world in which we live and how it operates apart from God.
"Every morning, when the sun comes up, a gazelle wakes. He knows that he must outrun the fastest lion, or he will be eaten. When the sun comes up, the lion also wakes. He knows that he must outrun the slowest gazelle, or he will starve. In the end, it doesn't really matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle; when the sun comes up, you better be running."
If we aren't careful, we can actually be lured into thinking that is precisely what life is all about. We all have such busy lives. So many demands are made on us each day that we cannot possibly keep up with them all. We are on the run from sun up to sun down, chasing and being chased by responsibilities and duties. And there are times that the race does not stop when the sun goes down. The challenges continue whether we are sleeping or whether we are awake:
· The bills keep arriving in the mailbox.
· The phone keeps ringing with people trying to sell us something.
· The car needs repairs, our house or apartment needs to be fixed or painted, and the children need new shoes and clothing.
· The food that we put in our refrigerator and cupboards last week needs to be replenished.
· Our employer seems to want us to work more hours without paying us more.
And there are times when the stress intensifies -- when our normal problems are replaced by gigantic and earth-shaking trials:
· A loved one is in an accident and rushed to the hospital.
· A friend is told that he or she has terminal cancer.
· Our state or our province experiences a tornado, earthquake, fire or flood -- and some of our friends and family members lose everything and must start their lives all over again.
What Jesus Taught
Have you ever thought about how Jesus responded to our human problems during his earthly ministry? He was constantly mobbed by needy people, who had genuine needs. They wanted to be healed from diseases. They had little or no money. They needed food and shelter. They crowded around him saying, "Fix me. Here is what I need. Here is what I want. Fix me."
And Jesus worked. He healed. He listened. He cared. He helped. But it was never enough. The more he healed, listened, cared and helped, the more the needs seemed to multiply. It was never enough. There was no end of problems and concerns.
If Jesus' purpose was simply to take care of all of the human needs for those people with whom he came into contact, then he failed in his mission. Jesus didn't heal every sick person in Palestine during his lifetime. He didn't empty all of the graveyards, did he? Did Jesus fail in his purpose? Why was it that people mobbed Jesus? Did they want him to help them understand God's purpose for their life? Of course not. Like all human beings, they primarily wanted Jesus to take care of their immediate physical needs.
Our Deepest Needs Are Spiritual, Not Physical
Jesus' purpose was to be our Savior. He certainly did not fail. He conquered death and the grave. He won the victory at the cross, atoning for our sins. He gave of himself that we might have eternal life. He fulfilled his purpose. But Jesus' purpose was not defined by the demands placed upon him or by the expectations that humans had for him. Jesus had a grip on his mission. He never lost sight of his purpose.
Because he had a purpose in his life, he could respond to problems of others without becoming a victim to the stress and urgency of the cares of this flesh. His mission and purpose was to speak to our deepest need, our spiritual alienation from God.
Sometimes our lives can be consumed by needs, duties and demands. We can end up in perpetual motion, always on the run but never feeling fulfilled. We can do many things, but never really accomplish the goals that God has for our lives.
You might say, "I'm just burned out. I can't take it anymore. I work and work and give and give -- and it never seems to be enough." But burnout is not necessarily the result of too much activity. Burnout is usually the product of the wrong kind of activity. When we are doing the most important things in life, the things that help us fulfill God's purpose for our lives, activity doesn't wear us down -- it actually builds us up.
British author and philosopher Malcolm Muggeridge was an atheist for most of his life until he became a Christian. As he neared the end of his earthly life, he was able to say, "When I look back on my life nowadayswhat strikes me most forcibly about it is that what seemed at the time most significant and seductive, seems now most futile and absurd."
God's plan for your life is simple, yet profound. God purposes for you to hear and know the gospel and to share the gospel. Our purpose is to come to know God and to make him known. By comparison, nothing else matters. Of course, other things in life are important, but by comparison, nothing is more spiritually significant -- because the gospel of Jesus Christ gives us meaning and significance. It gives us direction and provides our reason for being.
Consider the perspectives offered in the following articles in this special report: 1) "Finding Your Calling," 2) "Faith -- Not Feelings," and 3) "Five Stages of Spiritual Growth." They will help give you insight and direction as you discover God's plans and listen for his message for your life.