Purpose

Finding Our Place

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In Screwtape Letters C.S. Lewis writes:

Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’ while really it is finding its place in him.

It’s a gut-punching statement. 

After all, most of us spend a considerable amount of time looking for our place in this world.

There are songs about it, and myriad of books that try to help us answer that question.

Usually, when people talk about finding their place, it means finding their niche – their area where they can have greater success than other people.  Their looking for their unique way to make a contribution; how they can provide value that no one else can.

The way that our world acknowledges such a contribution is by allowing that person to prosper.

Be it money, fame, prestige or acclaim, our reward for finding our niche, our area of unique contribution, is at the feeling that we have finally arrived; it’s a feeling of belonging and achievement.

Of course the problem is that the Christian does not belong to this world. So if we are finding our place in it, we are actually in the wrong location. If we measure success by the rewards that this world offers, our measuring tape is misaligned. The goal shouldn’t be to achieve much in this world, but in the next. Our mission isn’t to be prosperous in this life, but to prosper God’s Kingdom.

And if our hearts are knitted to this world, than they aren’t knitted to Christ. We are no longer seeking His kingdom, but our own.  

So while God may bless our efforts, and allow us to do well in the field to which He has called us, may we never think that we have found our place in it. Instead, may our feeling of belonging and significance always be found in Him.

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Purpose

Change of Direction

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When you are on a long road trip, the road signs begin to blend together after awhile. It’s easy to see them from your peripheral view and yet never really pay attention to them. Of course, this may create a difficult situation when you are on an unfamiliar road and the signs contain critical instructions for when you need to make a turn, take an exit, or drive down a detour. How many times have you seen the information that you needed just as you were passing it by? Too late to actually follow the pertinent directions, corrective action is now required.

Many times we approach life like a long journey. Often, we go down the road on cruise control. We become used to the directions and instructions in God’s Word and so we tend to view them only in the peripheral – not really paying attention to the Truth contained therein. We act as if we know where we are going, so we miss the signs that tell us to “turn here” or “exit approaching.”  Just like the road trip, we may need to take corrective action to get back to where God is guiding us. We go down the road that we think we’re supposed to be on, unaware that God may be calling us to make a change in direction.

Treating God and His Word like the road signs that we pay attention to only when we’re lost  means that we often miss out on preparing for and anticipating the work that He is calling us to. While He graciously often provides detours to get us back on the road He desires, how much better to pay attention to the teaching and instruction of His Word, and be on the road that He’s calling us down all along?

 

 

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