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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