Being Content Purpose

Incomparable

Nowadays, it’s popular to tell kids how special they are. We are told that we should focus on what makes them unique, to play to their strengths, and to not worry about the areas where they may lack talent or ability. Kids are supposed to be self-assured, to be confident, and to believe that they can do anything.

Even though it doesn’t take kids very long to realize that’s not true.

They can’t do anything. After all, as I once said, despite any desire I may have, I was never going to be a linebacker for the Dallas Cowboys. Some things are inherent to who we are, and no amount of willpower or fortitude will change this. So young people are forced to reconcile what they’ve been told with what they can clearly see as reality. And more often than not, this leads them to compare.

“I may not be as fast as Bobby, but I’m faster than Joe”

“I’m the second prettiest girl in the class – we voted on it.”

“I may not be smart, but at least I’m smarter than George.”

And so on and so on, until they’ve made their lists, assigned their categories, and everyone fits in a nice little box.

And then those children grow up. They take those same lists, and those same categories, and begin checking off boxes.

“Kyle got his first sports car on the day he turned 18; I want one too.”

“Susie was married by 21, so I should be too.”

“John bought his first house; that means I should be buying one too.”

And on and on it goes.

However, in reality, just like God didn’t apportion everyone the same set of skills and talents, God didn’t write everyone’s life story the same way. What He has planned for one person at a certain stage in life, may not be what He has planned for another. God wants to use you for the purposes He has planned for you, not what He has planned for someone else.

And if we stop to think about it, we should be grateful that’s the case. Because it means God has fashioned and designed our lives in such a way that through it, He gets the most glory. He’s gifted us and placed us in circumstances so that He can use our lives for His Kingdom’s sake.  He’s fashioned our story so that it can become part of His story.

And for the Christian, there’s nothing that can compare to that.

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Hope

Washed by the Rain

Living in Southern California, you learn to be wary of the rain.

It’s not that the rain is bad – more often than not, we are in desperate need of more precipitation. However, if it rains too hard, for too long, all at once, we quickly have problems. That’s because our cities aren’t built to handle the rain. Mudslides and flooding ensue. What at first seemed like a minor inconvenience, quickly turns into a catastrophe.
The same can happen in our personal lives. The storms seem to build on top of each other and before you know it, the downpour you thought you could handle, spirals out of control. The water floods our lives.

However, as I was recently reminded by a Need to Breathe song, the same water that can cause the floods and mudslides, can wash us. In other words, God often uses the tough times in our lives to purify us, to sanctify us, and to draw us closer to Him. The rain may be overwhelming, but His grace is even more so. And it’s often during the torrent of tears that we experience this most profoundly.

The rain can sweep us away, or the rain can wash us clean. It’s in our response to the bad times that this is determined.

We can choose to let God use the pain, or we can choose to let the pain consume us.

We can choose whether to praise Him through the storm, or oppose Him because of it.

We can choose whether the storm will refine us, or whether the water will drown us.

Our response may not change whether we experience pain, but it will determine whether we draw closer to God as a result of it.

May we increasingly allow the rain to purify us, sanctify us, and make us more like Christ. May we not be awashed in it, but instead, may we be washed by the rain.

 

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