Placement: Finding Your Dream

Part 3 of Big Picture: A Series On How To Change Your Perspective In Order To Change The World

So far in this series, we've talked about Christ working through us to share His grace (read here) and how we can use the pain in our lives to serve as a strength in changing the world (read here). In Part 3, I want to talk about finding our place in the grand scheme of things. What issue is the most important to address? What should we be doing? Should we be assessing our personality and talents to try and figure out what we're supposed to be doing? I have some different points to emphasize here, and they are all different, so I'm just hoping and praying that this can make sense and not totally contradict itself. Ya know?

First of all, take a moment and assess where you are in life. Who are you? This can include everything from your financial to relationship status to your career to your reputation. Write it all down, and then burn it. (Okay, don't actually burn it. What if you burnt your house down, and then I was responsible??) Just put it aside for a moment, and realize that whatever your "status" in life, it means nothing. In the kingdom of God, if you're extremely intelligent, you're still pretty dumb compared to God. If you live meal to meal, that also means nothing. God can do anything He wishes with anyone. Take a moment and surrender your whole identity to the Lord. Tell Him you want to be used mightily in His kingdom, merits and hangups and everything. Let Him give you a dream, a passion, a cause for something that you can use your life to end or advance.

Because here's the deal. The place and ministry where God calls you is going to be the place where the kingdom of God is going to be advanced and the world is going to change. 

Secondly, I was listening to a sermon yesterday, and my pastor was saying something very profound (that made me kind of rethink this whole blog post!). He was saying that instead of trying to find our ministry, we just need to start walking in it. Instead of waiting for a ministry to knock on your door and ask you to be CEO, we need to be sharing His grace with the world through our actions and words. Sometimes ministries do up and knock on your door, but we can't sit on the couch and wait for it. Your ministry is a lifestyle, not a career.

Thirdly, you can take that list out again. (Unless you burned it. But I told you not to, so...) Take a good look at it. Remember that parable in the Bible about those talents? Here's a little excerpt:

"For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.  To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’"

The story continues with the end of the stories of the two other stewards. Even though the stewards were in charge of money in this, I think it's really cool that the money was called talents (does that make anyone else really happy? No? Okay, sorry.). Now in light of this, analyze what you have right now. Do you have a dream to end abortion? Do you have a heart for widows? Political involvement? Who are you married to, and what is their dream? Are you single and love to travel? Ask God to show you who you are and what you have, and how it all fits together. 

So I know I went all over the place today, but let me try to sum it up for you:
  
Treat everyday and every situation as a ministry, and be asking God to give you the dream and passion He wants for you. Your life may not change at all, but you might, as you realize His ministry for you. And finally, realize that God has given you certain gifts that, if used in His strength, are going to change the world. 

Love you all & can't wait to change the world with you!

 

Meant For Good: Turning Pain Into Potential

Part 2 of Big Picture:

A Series On How to Change Your Perspective In Order to Change the World

 

She falls out of bed in the morning, her brain madly trying to remember the events of yesterday. Then she remembers. She gets back in bed. There's no point in even trying.

He looks in the mirror and rubs a grizzled hand over his gray beard. The voice taunts him. "You could have done so much. Look at you. All alone. Haven't changed a thing."

She picks the screaming baby out of the crib, her body exhausted, her mind running mutinous thoughts. "So long, dreams of yesterday. Today is too much to handle."

He drives to work, trying not to think about it. It just hurts too bad. He doesn't even think about the dreams he used to have. Those were an idealist's circus, and they mean nothing, nothing, nothing...

So you want to change the world? I have news for you. Life might get in the way. Translate: Life will get in the way. Every person in the world suffers. It's non-negotiable.

1. The Enemy isn't too happy with you and can't wait to make you miserable.
2. There's other people on earth, and they also have an innate ability to make you miserable.
3. You tell yourself lies all day that make you miserable.
4. There's about ten million decisions you could make right now that could make you miserable.

Here's the really amazing part. 
The more pain and training you go through, the stronger you're going to be.

In Isaiah 58, it says (italics added):

"Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness, 
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free, 
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily..."

According to these verses, as we (broken and hurting) serve others, our healing will come quickly. As we put aside our problems to focus on anothers' issues, ours become a little smaller.

To wrap up this post, I want to finish with the story of Joseph. I hope you take the time to read his story this week, (Genesis chapters 37, 39-50) but I'll give a quick recap here. 
Initially, Joseph was his father's favorite.Unfortunately, this favor was not shared by his half-brothers, who were proactively jealous: they decided to sell him to Egypt.
In Egypt, Joseph was then sold to Potiphar, where he rose to a higher position. Perhaps Joseph thought that finally his life was headed in the right direction. He knew that the Lord was with him. But God had different plans for Joseph. Soon he was degraded to the prison when Potiphar's wife accused Joseph of what he did not do. Still, God was with him. It says,
"But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison." {Genesis 39:21}
At this point in his life, he must have asked so many times, "Why me, God?" There didn't seem to be any purpose. Almost everyone in his life had totally let him down. But his story wasn't over yet. The Lord had given Joseph the gift of interpreting dreams, and this gave him access into the very palace of Pharaoh. Later, Joseph was reconciled to his brothers. Joseph later said:

"As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today." {Genesis 50:20}


The perspective change for this week is this:

The pain is not your enemy, it is the road to strength.

So, in summary, the pain is not pointless. God is preparing you for a purpose that only He knows. Don't lose heart; your story is far from over. Through this preparation, you are becoming a world-changer. Hold onto Jesus as if your life depends on it. (It does.) And may we all be able to someday say:

"But God meant it for good."

{This song is from Dreamworks' rendition of Joseph's story, and it's one of my favorites right now. Enjoy!}

Start: The Decision

Part 1 of Big Picture: 

A Series On How to Change Your Perspective In Order to Change the World

 

Hey there! I'm so glad that you're joining me on this journey. I hope and pray that this series can be an inspiration in your life; that you can hear the things that you need and implement them. This is a journey I'm on, so please bear with my inexperience and incoherent thoughts that are sure to be here! I'm hoping to make this super practical, so that it's not just good ideas, but a road map of sorts to help us navigate. And just know: I'm praying for you!

So let's get started. If you're reading this, you're probably, to some extent, interested in changing the world. Maybe you have a dream, or good, practical ideas, or maybe you've tried to make a difference and it didn't work so - "farewell to idealism forever"- or maybe you're a genius who has undirected potential, or a successful person who  still feels unfulfilled. Or maybe you're a student who spends half their time struggling to meet deadlines and the other half eating ice-cream and trying not to think about deadlines. I don't know. 

But I do know one thing. If you're going to change the world, you have to do it the right way. And yes, there is a wrong way. Here's the deal. It doesn't matter how much brainpower, motivation, perseverance, time, money, etc, etc, you have.

Without Jesus, it's not happening.

Sure, you can try and do something. You may rescue a thousand orphans, abolish human trafficking, etc, but is that really going to help anything in the grand scheme of things?It's going to help - for a moment - but it's not going to have very much lasting value, and you are going to be BURNED OUT.

But if you have something completely isolated from just "humane help"- something that changes a whole person's life - and you can do it in God's strength, THEN you have something worth giving.

Please understand me here. Don't make a decision here to follow Christ for the sake of being more effective in changing the world. And if you're already a Christian, please don't tune me out. This is for you, too.

Following Christ is a decision that has to be made in light of the fact of Jesus' grace. Because of our sin, we are separated from God.

Romans 3:23 says that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

But because Jesus died in our place we can again be with God and inherit eternal life. This is a grace-only deal, one in which our part consists in acknowledging that we are dead without Christ, and that we need Him, thus accepting His grace & believing in Him.

Acts 16:31 says to "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."

This is the message we have to hear ourselves, and this is the message we have to take to the world. If you have never talked to God and surrendered to His grace, I would encourage you to consider it, think about it, obsess over it. It is the biggest decision you will ever make, and not just something to do and then move on. It will become your whole life, and that is a really good thing.

If you are already saved, I would encourage you to dwell on God's grace this week. This is all about Him, not us. Whatever we do, we are able to do because HE saved us, HE gave us life, HE gave us the potential in the first place.

In Philippians 3, Paul basically gives his impressive resume. He could have boasted in it, but instead, he said:

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—  that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead." 

The perspective shift for this week comes down to this:

We're not going to be the ones changing the world.  

That's a really good thing, friends. A really, really, good thing. 

This week, as we dwell on who we are, and who He is, I pray that it will spur us on to share His grace with the world.