Pastor’s Corner: “Made for More”
Mark 8:35 (TLB) – 35 If you insist on saving your life, you will lose it. Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.
Multitudes in our world today, even many Christians do not feel fulfilled and experience a lack of purpose in their lives. They’re not happy, not satisfied and in fact they’re miserable. Trying to find meaning and purpose by living only for ourselves is always a dead end. The result is always emptiness and a lack of hope. But there is a better way! It is counter-intuitive and counter-cultural but it opens the door to real living and purpose. You were made by and for God’s great pleasure. You were made for so much more!
God didn’t create anything without a purpose. If you’re breathing, you have a purpose. In Christ, you have something to offer the world. When God made you, he wired you in a certain way and uniquely shaped you for a contribution. Nobody has been you in the past or will be you in the future. God doesn’t create clones or copies. Even identical twins are different in thousands of ways. Your thumbprint, voice, footprint, heartbeat, and eyes are unique. You’re not one in a million. You’re one in trillions. God custom-made you. And he wants you to be you! And, yet, you may spend your life trying to be somebody you’re not and when you do that, you miss your whole purpose. Stop living for yourself!
Climbing Mount Everest is one of the challenges that inspire people to do something big. Lots of people try, even though nearly 10 percent of the people who do, die in the process. Many of the corpses still line the path up the mountain. Yet people still want to climb the mountain — though it has no real redeeming social value. A few years back one climber, David Sharp, was clearly in trouble on the mountain. There were 40 climbers who noticed his obvious need but passed him that day. He died on Mount Everest because none of the other climbers were willing to put their personal goal on hold to help him.
That’s us. Our own personal drive to have more, be more, and do more causes us to lose sight of what really matters. But that isn’t how God wired us. Life isn’t about what you make, or what you do. Life is all about love — loving God and loving others. God did not make you and put you here on this planet just to breathe air, take up space, and die. If you’re here, there’s a contribution that only you can make.
Jesus tells us in Mark 8:3 (TLB) – Only those who throw away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live. God wired you in a way that you’ll never be happy unless you’re giving your life away in His work. You were made for something greater than yourself. Your significance doesn’t come from status, salary, or sex. It comes from service. Only by giving your life away can you feel that your life has significance.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT) – For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. You are God’s masterpiece. Before you were born, God planned the good things he wanted you to do with your life. In other words, He gave you a Ministry (service). When you see how you are shaped and use that shape to bless others, then you will find your ministry. And you will find your purpose, meaning and learn how to really live!
In His Grace,
Pastor Hamilton