Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? (Daily Reflections on Prov. 21:21)

It's in our constitution that all men are created equal and are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There you have it, God has given me the right to live my life anyway that brings me happiness. Well, that's seems to be the interpretation by many, but I'm not sure that that was the intentions of Jefferson and the crafters of the constitution. "It's all about me and what I want" seems to have developed in more recent years. So people argue today that since I have the right to pursue what makes me happy, nothing that brings me happiness should be excluded and you don't have any right to impose your values on me.

Further more happiness or the pursuit of happiness is defined as anything that makes me happy. If it makes me happy, it shouldn't be against the law or immoral or...do you see where this is going? Cultural trends shift rapidly. In less than a generation cultural opinions can tip to polar opposites. Some chalk it up to social evolution or enlightenment. The pursuit of happiness has power.

For many the pursuit of happiness is a way to find real life. So for many the pursuit of happiness is about the pursuit of wealth, power, status, material possessions, pleasure or self gratification. People kill themselves trying to get any or all of those things. We work long hours, overextend our finances, sacrifice family or family priorities, or engage in questionable activities. Charles Swindoll has said, "we have become a generation of people who worship our work...who work at our play...and who play at our worship."

But Solomon gives us some better advice if we really want to find real life. Instead of pursuing what we think will bring us happiness and thus real life, Solomon says, "Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor." (Prov. 21:21) If we really want to find real life, real prosperity and real honor, then we should pursue righteousness and unfailing love. It's not about self. It's about pursuing God, Godly living and Godly loving. What does that look like?

It means that our energies become centered on understanding God, His principles and practices. Hanging around a church service will help catch a glimpse of God, but we won't really understand Him until we actually dig into His Word on our own, studying and meditating upon it, closely examining His practices and ways. But pursuing righteousness and love also means employing those principles and practices in our own life. Godly living and Godly loving are simply enacting those principles and practices through the investment of our lives into others. Authors Hugh Halter, Michael Frost, Alan Hirsch, Lance Ford and others have suggested that pursuing righteousness and love is really about incarnating Jesus through our lives or in other words following the example of Jesus in serving/blessing people in practical ways. Pursing righteousness is not about trying to live a perfect sinless life. It's about letting Jesus live His life out in us.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs have always intrigued me. How do I get to that final level of self actualization? It isn't focusing on self, self needs, or self gratification ironically. It's actually doing exactly what Solomon says in Proverbs 21, pursuing  righteousness and love and that is spelled in pursuing God, Godly living and Godly loving.

God, I confess I find myself focusing my energies on self fulfillment or self gratification most of the time. I know that that is an empty pursuit. I know that I feel a greater fulfillment, inner peace, joy, rich, etc when I've poured myself out into others in your behalf. I have a greater sense of respect and honor from others when I humbly and genuinely serve others. I want to be more like Jesus. Empower me. Coach me through your Spirit. Keep my eyes focused on Kingdom things and not earthly or selfish things.

KEEP CALM AND... (Daily Reflections on Ex. 14:5-31)

Perhaps you've seen the signs, bumper stickers or T-shirts that depict a crown with the words, "Keep Calm And" then some other statement like, "Carry On" or "Chive On" or "Eat a Cookie". The latter part of the phrase could be almost anything and doesn't even have to make sense. In fact some I've seen border on the ridicules and even profane. Even the Christian paraphernalia marketers have gotten in on this fad. I'm sure to a stressed out world this "Keep Calm" craze is appealing. However, it drives me absolutely nuts. Perhaps because it goes against my charge ahead, Type A personality that I dislike those phrases. I also don't like the phrases, "Chill Out" or "Take a Chill Pill" either. And whoever started the phrase, "Chillax"...well, anyway where was I.

Everyone recognizes the need to stay under control or calm in those heated moments of stress or intensity or high pressure, but very few actually do it. Oh it's easy to stay calm lounging at the beach or viewing the majesty of a serene mountain lake. But staying calm behind the wheel in a driving rainstorm during heavy rush hour traffic in a strange city when you don't really know where you are going is a different story. Under those circumstances you find yourself yelling at the inanimate feminine GPS voice on your navigation device.

We live in a high pressure, high stress world. Time demands, business demands, parenting demands, financial demands, relational demands, personal demands compound upon each other stretching us to our limits. Even getting everyone out the door and on time in the morning can become such an ordeal that we get to work in an already frenzied state of mind. Too often we find ourselves either reaching for a couple extra shots of caffeine to keep us going at a high level of efficiency or reaching for glass of wine or some other alcoholic beverage or our medicine cabinet to calm us down.

Reading through Exodus 14 I was reminded of the stress and oppressive  circumstances facing the children of Israel who were in slavery in Egypt. They were crying out for deliverance, but when it came it seemed to them a much worse fate. I'm sure as they initially headed out of Egypt with the chariots on their tales they felt like they had gone out of the proverbial frying pan into the fire. I don't have to speculate about this because the text says they were screaming at Moses, 10 As Pharaoh approached, the people of Israel looked up and panicked when they saw the Egyptians overtaking them. They cried out to the Lord, 11 and they said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out here to die in the wilderness? Weren’t there enough graves for us in Egypt? What have you done to us? Why did you make us leave Egypt? 12 Didn’t we tell you this would happen while we were still in Egypt? We said, ‘Leave us alone! Let us be slaves to the Egyptians. It’s better to be a slave in Egypt than a corpse in the wilderness!’”

We've all been there. Just when we thought things or the pressure couldn't get any worse, something else happens to make our lives or our situation seem hopelessly impossible. That's when we crack, break down, cry out, blurt out in anger or fall into deep depression. Verse 10 says it, "they looked up and panicked." And their response was typical, "can't we just go back to being miserable." That is ultimately what the Israelites were saying to Moses.

If I were one of the Israelites that day, I probably would have found myself on the side that wanted to strangle Moses. As I often said, "Oh ME of little faith." Sometimes even following God seems like you've gone from the frying pan into the fire. And our immediate response is almost always, "how am I going to solve this or get out of this." We start analyzing things from our abilities or resources or perspective. We may cry out, but we do so in panic mode, still trying figure out how to get ourselves out of our difficult situation.

It's in those hopelessly impossible situations that God often does His best work or His glory is best seen anyway. Looking closely again to what happen intrigues me. Moses tells them to stop freaking out. Don't be afraid of this massive, well trained army bearing down on you. I know easier said then done. Fear is a crippling. It refocuses your attention so much on the potential harm that you can't think, act, or often reason properly. It even causes us to take our attention off of God. 

Moses goes on to tell the people to just stand still and watch. Watch what? Watch God begin to do His thing. It must have been weird for the Israelites to watch that pillar of fire that had been before them raise up, drift overhead and then settle in between them and the Egyptian army. The Israelites weren't out of danger but now they had a glimmer of hope.

The New Living Translation says in verse 14 that Moses said, "The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm." There it is, "stay calm." I can hear the Israelites now, "Yeah Right." However, the NIV says, "be still" and New American Standard Bible  says "while you keep silent."  I might not have been so diplomatic if I were Moses. I would have more likely said something like, "Shut up and stop your whining." But I confess that Moses was probably more Godly than I am. The point is that when you are in panic mode and just gibbering you really can't see that God is actually working. You have to be still for a moment, cease your striving as Ps. 46:10 says and know that He is God. When we are so freaked out by our circumstance, we have a tendency to squeeze out the voice of God or see Him moving.

So under this extremely tense situation, Moses has said, dump the fear, slow your motor down and watch for God to do His thing. Then God tells both Moses and the people to do something strange. He tells them to get moving! Moving? Where? Away from the Egyptians means moving toward the Red Sea and there are no boats there. Here's the deal, God is telling the people to move away from the trouble and go forward from where they are. God also told Moses to hold up his staff over the water and a way would be provided. 

When I played football my running back coach always told me look for the hole and run to daylight. He was basically saying let your blockers do their job. Don't watch what they're doing or zero in on your opponents. Watch for the open opportunities and run hard and fast toward those. I soon discovered that if I stayed in the backfield and tried to juke the oncoming tacklers I was tackled in the backfield and found myself on the bench. But when I did what the coach told me, I always picked up positive yards.

When the people did just what God told them to do and let Him do His thing, they were not only saved, delivered, rescued, they saw a miracle of God. He totally destroyed the Egyptian army before their very eyes and not a single arrow was flung, spear tossed or sword drawn. In fact, not a single person in the Israelite camp were harmed. Amazing! God smashed the world's most powerful army of its day with simply His breath.

God, I need to feel your breath upon me and around me right now. I seem to get so caught up in all the stressors and pressures of life that I find myself in panic mode all too often. Help me put aside my fears, to slow my motor down long enough to see Your hand at work. I don't want to be a whiner, Lord. I want to simply follow your path. Show me the open path so that I can run to daylight, your daylight. I want to see your glory and bring you glory through my life.

Passing on Values (Daily Reflections on Prov. 23:15-18)

Becoming a grandfather has caused me to do a little reflecting. Images of my girls when they were little pop into my mind frequently. I begin to question how well I did as a parent really investing in my kids and did I portray Godly values consistently before them. I just thank God for their mother that my girls have grown to be Godly women. 

Reading through Proverbs, one gets the sense that Solomon is almost writing to his own kid. He refers often to "young man/men" or even "my son." It's like Solomon tried to write down things that would help his son keep on the right path, do the right things and be an outstanding young man. If only Rehoboam had read and adhered to the writings of his wise father. I wonder if Israel would have split into two kingdoms. I wonder if idol worship would have crept into both kingdoms or even if the people would have had to suffer through captivity. We will never know because apparently either Rehoboam never read or decided not to adhere to his father's teaching.

There is another possibility. It has been said that in parenting, especially regarding values and practices, more is caught than taught. Looking at the lifestyle and practices of Solomon at the end of his life, one will see a quite different Solomon than when he assumed the throne and wrote those words of wisdom. Unfortunately Solomon himself did not adhere to his own words at the end of his life. It is no doubt that Rehoboam simply adopted many of the patterns and practices of his dad's latter life. 

The old adage, "Practice what you preach." has great relevancy when it comes to parenting or even discipling someone. It is true that more is caught than taught. If your lifestyle or daily practices do not match what you proclaim, then you are not just a hypocrite, you proclaim your actual beliefs. Just because you say you belief something, doesn't mean that you actually belief it. Your actions do speak louder than words and reveal the truth about you. 

As a parent, I pass on the values that I live and practice, not what I spout. And just because I show up at church on a somewhat regular basis, does not mean that I'm living the values that Jesus taught and I verbally espouse. Wow! That's a heavy load to think about. It is important to teach your kids Godly principles and truths. But it is also another thing to live them. It is easy to say that we should care for others, the poor, widows and orphans, sick, naked, etc. But if we as a family never spend anytime actually helping people, then we have just told our kids that Jesus didn't mean that we should help people in need. If we spend all our time on us and never spend time giving to others, then we have told our kids that life is all about us. If we never reach out to unchurch, unsaved neighbors in genuine friendship like Jesus did, then we tell our kids that eternal for others and loving our neighbors are unimportant.

Maybe it's time to do a little reflecting on our own. Take a hard look at your life. Are you reflecting the values that you really want to pass on? Are you demonstrating to your kids what it means to live a Godly life? A Godly life not a perfect life. Are you really pursing God with everything you've got and relying on the Holy Spirit to guide you daily?

God, even though my girls are now young women, I want to reflect your glory, your principles, your truths in my life even more. I want them and my son-in-laws and now my grandchild to catch the value of serving you and being faithful until death from me. I am asking your Holy Spirit to continually mold me after your will. Thanks for forgiving my imperfections and tendencies to drift from you. Thanks for continually restoring me. Give me your wisdom as a parent.

The Sneaky Grip of Greed (Daily Reflections on Luke 12:13-21)

As a pastor, sometimes you face some interesting, bizarre challenges in working with people in your congregation. It hasn't been uncommon following a death of a loved, especially a last surviving parent, that the adult children come to me and want me to tell their sibling(s) how to divide their parent's estate. On one occasion I received a call from one such surviving adult child telling me that I should call that person's brother and tell him to return a piece of furniture that rightfully belonged to them, and then proceeded to tell me all the reasons. The mother who passed and both the children were active members in our church. The issue was causing a major rift in the family and had become so divisive that they were no longer speaking to each other.

I don't believe that my response was what that person was looking for when they called me. The mother who had just passed was a godly, fun-loving women who could be very direct when she needed to be. I loved her and loved being around her. She had passed away unexpectedly. She was full of life and very active even though she was well advanced in years. She had a quick wit and a poignant way of getting her point across. So I simply replied, "You both are solid believers in Christ and I'm sure your mother would certainly have something to say to you both. What do you think she would say to you both right now?" That was the end of the conversation and they resolved the issue.

Sometimes the quest for material possessions get the better of us. The Bible word for that is greed. Even people who are mostly generous can get caught in the grip of greed. I'm not talking about envy or jealousy or even selfishness. I'm talking about pure, unadulterated greed; that deep, insatiable desire to have more and more and more.

We adopted a puppy about 8 months ago who has gone through all the puppy growing stages. It is funny to watch him because he is not satisfied having just one toy in his mouth at a time. Often times he has two or even three in his mouth. He will even chase his ball with one or two other toys in his mouth. It get's even funnier when he has two or three in mouth and tries to drag his old sheet around that he has in his bed. He has to get them in the right order or he can't fit them in his mouth.

My wife and I laugh at our dog trying to manipulate his jaws around his toys, but it causes me to wonder what God thinks of us trying grab all the stuff we can into our little mits. Our consumer society in the west plays on those inner desires of wanting more. And even though we don't think of ourselves as greedy, we are captured by it nonetheless. 

In Luke 12:13-21 Jesus gives us a gentle but stern warning about the greed that can creep into our lives, even without us being aware. Notice that Jesus points out how our attitude can shift from just trying to be productive to getting more and more and bigger and bigger; making life about us. 

The antidote for greed is generosity! Jesus clearly states that there is a huge difference in making life about yourself and the emptiness it ultimately brings and a life that He says is rich toward God. Being rich toward God is about investing in His Kingdom, not just financially, but wholeheartedly. The nature of God is give. The nature of man is get. Remember Jesus also says here that it's not about how much a person has, greed can seize us no matter what our income level is, so we should guard our hearts. 

God, I don't want my life to be about me and getting all I can. I want it to resemble You. I want to be a giver. I want to pour myself out before You by pouring my life out to others, especially those in need. I want to be rich toward You, Lord. Help me guard my heart against those inner desires for more material things.

Dilemmas, Dilemmas, Dilemmas (Daily Reflections on Ps. 119:125-128)

The last couple of weeks there's been a lot serious postings and debates among the Christian blogs and social media sites regarding World Visions' announcement that they were going to hire homosexual couples and then within a day or so their reversal of that policy. It created a firestorm of discussion with accusations being tossed at both sides of the issues. Not overlooked in the not-so-friendly dialogue was the fate of the many innocent children who would be affected if support was withdrawn. The moral dilemma began to take on a lesser of two evils scenario. Some argued that the starving and homeless children should be the focus. That to withdraw from them would be an injustice and an abomination before God. Others took the stance that not to uphold the principles of heterosexual marriage was immoral and an abomination before God. Thus the discussion zeroed in on the sin of homosexuality and the legality of gay marriage in God's eyes.

What's a Christ Follower to do? What is he/she supposed to think? What should be our response? Tough questions because there are valid points to each argument. There is also no doubt that our culture and societal influences play into this discussion. 

In my lifetime I have seen divorce go from being a stain on a persons community and social standing, making them a virtual second class citizen to an accepted status where approximately fifty percent of marriages now end in divorce. I have witnessed homosexuality go from an absolute societal taboo, believing that person was a morally depraved degenerate to gay marriage being legal in several states. In my younger days, when a girl got pregnant outside of marriage it was disgraceful and a family shame. Today sex outside of marriage, adultery and living together seems to be the norm and almost expected behavior. It causes me to wonder what the status of pedophilia will be in coming years. It's totally unacceptable today. Yet the rise of the child pornography and teachers having sex with their students should give us an insight into the coming path. Ridiculous you say. That's what they said about homosexuality just a couple of decades ago.

Societal norms and cultural practices should not be the standard by which we measure truth. Since God is truth, His word is truth; His statutes are truth. That means that the practices and patterns of our life should pursue His truth, His statutes or precepts. It really doesn't matter where society goes or what society endorses as acceptable norms of behavior. As a former college professor of mine once said, "Truth is truth whether anyone believes it or not." Generations ago societal truth said that the world was flat and the the sun orbited the earth. Let's be honest, society doesn't always get it right no matter how many people believe and experts testify about it.

Two thirds way through the longest chapter in the Bible, Psalm 119, the writer pens these words about the statutes or precepts of God. He begs God to give him discernment so that he may understand God's statutes. He proclaims his love for the commandments of God and values them more than any amount of monetary gain. There is something refreshing and pure and right about them. And following them brings about a greater fullness and peace and satisfaction in  life. The psalmist acknowledges that the culture has abandoned God's precepts and prays for an intervention by our creator. In comparison to the principles God lays out, the author expresses disdain for the path/paths the world upholds.

So in answer to my previous question "what's a Christ Follower to do?", the answer is simple, pursue the statutes of God, value them first and for most. I have to live my life by God's commands and precepts to the best of my ability relying on the Holy Spirit to give me direction. I cannot base my life on where the world is going or what everyone else is doing. As my mother always challenged me, "If everyone was jumping off a cliff, would you do it to?" It has to be about me and my pursuit of a relationship with God. As a Christ Follower, my life isn't my own any longer any way. Jesus is my commander. I do what He directs me to do. Jesus said, "If you love me you will obey my commandments." Not out of duty but out of love. If I truly love Jesus, I will love His truth. If I don't love His truth, then I don't truly love Jesus.

Should I have sex outside of marriage? What does Jesus say? Should I support the hungry, the poor, the starving children? What does Jesus say? Should I accept homosexual marriage or relationships? What does Jesus say? Questions like these should cause us to dig deeper into His Word with the prayer of this psalmist on our lips, "give me discernment that I may understand your statutes."

God, life is sometimes complicated. We face moral dilemmas all the time. I need your truth to guide my life. I want to understand your statutes and precepts. I want to mold my life around Your Word. I want my decisions to sync with your principles. Give me discernment. I don't want to be a legalist, but I do want to completely follow your path and lift up your truth with love and grace.

The Injustice of Persecution (Daily Reflections on Isa. 50:2-9)

I've been thinking a lot about the persecuted church around the world recently. There are injustices of all kinds that permeate cultures and countries. Hunger, poverty, sex trafficking, physical and sexual abuse, racial, cultural and gender discrimination abound throughout the world. But somehow the persecution of the Church seems to be ignored when we talk about Human Rights. The vast majority of the church in China still must remain underground. People are tortured and killed, church meeting places burned or bombed in places like India, Indonesia and Sudan. There are fewer Christ Followers today in Iraq because of persecution, torture and murder than under Saddam Hussein's regime. It's illegal to be a Christian in many middle eastern countries. Being a Christian in many of those countries is punishable by imprisonment or death.

Although in the west, especially in the United States, Christians do not face that type of persecution, there is a rising tide of discrimination in the media, government and cultural attitudes. Churches have lost their influence and Biblical values are being tossed aside with disgust and disdain. New laws are being in acted which fly in the face Christ's teaching and God's morality. Christianity is mocked openly in the media. Some lawmakers are targeting traditional Biblical standards and values for extinction. 

Jesus said that we could expect it. In John's Gospel, Jesus is quoted as telling His disciples that they would be persecuted. He said that because the world hated Him, we could expect that the world would hate His followers. In fact, most of the Twelve suffered a martyred death. The Apostle Paul found himself in prison for his faith on more than one occasion. He was beaten and stoned and even left for dead. But Paul's mantra, as recorded in Philippians, was "To live is Christ, to die is gain."

Throughout history, God's spokesmen have always been in danger of torture, persecution and death. They were often hated, ridiculed and run out of town on a rail. Many of God's messengers lived isolated lives because of their message. The warnings of the prophets often went unheeded, falling on deaf ears. Some were imprisoned or chained. Some beaten. Some impoverished.

In Isaiah 50, God talks about His displeasure with the Israelite people for rejecting Him. He poses a series of questions through Isaiah which call His people to recognize His power and faithfulness. Then Isaiah proudly proclaims His own stand for God as His messenger. He declares his eagerness to hear and speak the truths of God. But he also asserts his steadfastness of his faith and determination to continue to bring forth boldly the prophecies of God. He announces, "I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced."

Isaiah has confidence in God. He knows that although he may be tortured and ridiculed that he will be proven right in the end. God's truth will reign. Isaiah says, "It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up." That's a great picture. The efforts to disavow, ridicule, persecute, torture, silence God's voices will ultimately prove ineffective. God still wins in the end and so do His children, His faithful followers.

As a Christ Follower we can expect mocking, ridicule and even severe persecution for our faith. Jesus promised it would happen. Martyrs throughout the history of the church have gone to the grave with the name of Jesus on their lips. In the last 100 years, probably the last 50 years, there have been more Christians martyred/murdered for their faith than in the previous 1900 years combined. Persecution is growing. Our voices should grow louder in denouncing this injustice. But we should also brace ourselves for what is to come. 

God will ultimately prove victorious. In fact we already have the victory in Christ. So we should cling to the mantras of Paul and Isaiah and hold onto God while proclaiming boldly His Good News. Maranatha!

God, I confess that I don't like persecution. I'm not sure that I'm very strong. I have a hard enough time when people criticize me for my belief or mock me for my faith. I don't like getting left out at times. I can't imagine being beaten, tortured, or imprisoned for my faith. I'm not sure how I would do facing death or watching a family member face death (or worse) for sharing your Good News about Jesus. But I lift up my brothers and sisters around the world who are facing severe persecution daily. Empower them. Stand with them. Protect them. Comfort them. Use their message and stand for you to ring out your truths, your glory even louder. Demonstrate your power through them. Give them justice. 

Fatalism, Determinism or Uniqueness, God's Plan for my Life (Daily Reflections on Prov. 20:24)

I do not consider myself a Calvinist nor an Armenian theologically. But when one reads passages like Proverbs 20:24, "The Lord has determined our path; how then can anyone understand the direction his own life is taking?," it raises questions regarding fatalism, determinism and free will. What is Solomon saying here? That I don't have any choice? That my life is laid out for me? That everything in my life happens because God has already determined or ordained it? And how far does that go? Does that mean that God determines whether or not I get get cancer? Does He determine what job I'm going get or who I'm going to marry? Does that extend to what I eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? How much I drink? When I go to bed at night? Has God determined absolutely everything for me? Logical questions which raise even more questions. 

However, I think the bigger question has to do with the impact of your life. Have you ever noticed that everyone is different? I know that's a dumb question. Of course we know that everyone is different. Even identical twins are different. Just like every snowflake is unique, so are we. That's God's designed. God crafts each of us with our unique blend of gifts and talents and passions and skills and bents. And with all our uniqueness comes a unique purpose for our life. God's plan for me is totally different than God's plan for you. The people you impact, influence and do life with are different from the ones I impact, influence and do life with.

Notice our paths take us different places. That too is God designed. Our gift mix, personality, passion, experiences are all used by God, when we surrender it to Him, to accomplish His purpose and plan for us. Surrendering it to Him, that's the rub. God has a unique plan for each of our lives. We will only be able to fulfill God's plan for our lives when we are open to His leading and live each day for Him.

The problem is that many of us, okay most of us seek to live our lives for ourselves. We try to make a life for ourselves. We map out plans to take us to where we think we want to go. We read self help books, listen to inspirational or motivational speakers, push ourselves all in an attempt to get something we think we want. I heard one speaker say, "What if we spend all our energy, time and effort climbing the ladder of success only to get to the top of the ladder and find that it's leaning against the wrong wall?" 

I'm not saying that we should never plan or set goals or work hard to achieve success in our field. But, if we are honest with ourselves, this kind of pursuit of life is really all about us. What do I want for myself? It really gives little thought to the eventual impact of our life. It definitely avoids the questions, "Why am I here?" I really don't believe that God put us on this earth just to take up space, breath, use up some of the earth's resources and die. I believe that God has a specific plan for all us.

When Solomon writes these words, he indicates the uniqueness of every one of us. Instead of asking ourselves, "What do I want to accomplish in my life?" We should be asking "What does God want to accomplish through my life?" We don't have the vision to be able to see how our life will impact others not only in our lifetime but in the future. A life we impact today may influence someone else who in the future may impact thousands. We can't see that. We can't even see how our life affects those around us really. Our shortsightedness keeps us from understanding how God could use and is using us.

I struggle all the time with trying to figure out how my life is making a difference to anyone. I don't have visions (or delusions) of grandeur. I know that I'm not a rockstar pastor. But I do want my life to count to the people around me. I do want to impact them, to influence them for Christ. However, I can't even see if I'm really doing that. I really don't understand how God is using me.

And that's Solomon's point. God determines our path. He knows how he wants to use us. We haven't got a clue, really, what the total impact our life is having on others. So instead of killing ourselves trying to accomplish our dreams, why not live to allow God to accomplish His purpose for us. What does that look like? I don't know for you, but I do know that it involves people no matter what profession you hold, gifts you have, place you live, or education you have. When I release myself into the hands of God and let Him use my life fully, every day, then I don't have to worry about climbing a ladder to success or accumulating lots of wealth or being tops in my field. All I have to worry about is focusing on the people God brings around me to serve and care for. If we make serving Him our priority and giving Him our best at work, with friends, with neighbors, with family, in our community, then I believe that God will place us in positions that we can best be used by Him.

I think one the joys of Heaven will be that we get to see how God's plan was worked out through the influence of our lives. People we never met on this planet will be giving testimony of how our lives ultimately influenced them, especially in their relationship with God. I know of an older lady that taught a high school Sunday School class for years in a small town in North East Oklahoma. She loved her kids, had them to her house, always had cookies for them, listened to them, shared her faith with them and encouraged them in their walk with Christ. When they went off to college she would mail them cookies and send them notes. Through her service as the High School Sunday School teacher, she saw over thirty-five of her students become full time ministers and missionaries. Through her influence thousands of people have come to Christ all over the world. 

God, help me to focus on the people in my life today; of being a witness, an encouragement to the people in my life today. God, I want to live for you today. Sometimes chasing after big dreams or future aspirations wear me out and frustrate me and just bring me stress. I want you to handle the big picture, Lord. I know that my measly plans are nothing compared to what you envision. I just want to be used by you, however you want to use me.