From Psalms 127:
1 Unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted. Unless the Lord protects a city, guarding it with sentries will do no good. 2 It is useless for you to work so hard from early morning until late at night, anxiously working for food to eat; for God gives rest to his loved ones.
Yesterday I was blogging about the thought process of God being the owner of our lives. This scripture just reinforced that idea for me. What do I have that God did not give me? Did I get life from my parents? My parents cannot give me a soul—that only comes from God. Without God there is truly nothing.
This passage reminds me that we can do our own thing. We can take our own path. We can do everything possible to set ourselves up for greatness. We may even make a lot of money. We might end up being the CEO of the largest corporation in America—but without God it is all just waste. There is no true happiness without God’s presence being apparent in your life. You can never fill complete without Him. (No matter how successful you are in this life)
What good does it do to store your treasures on the earth? After all, I have never seen a hearse pulling a U-Haul trailer. You can’t take it with you. Why do we spend our lives reaching out to get things that will only appease us for moments rather than looking up and reaching out for things that will change eternity? Each of us has the opportunity to change eternity. Each child of God has the responsibility to change eternity—it was not an option. You must share your faith. Jesus didn’t say, “If you are outgoing—then go into the whole world.” No, he said, “Go.” There are no limitations. There are no requirements. Just go. Share. Tell the world. Change eternity.
God has a divine plan for every person He created. He doesn’t just create some for no purpose—every soul matters. God loves EVERY soul. He has a plan for each one. I was talking to some friends last night and this subject came up. Can you imagine how many people are not fulfilling God’s plan? Maybe they have not heard the gospel yet. Maybe they are running from God. Maybe they just don’t think they are good enough to do work for God. I don’t know. But do you remember a toy from years ago called the Lite Bright? When I think about how many people are not fulfilling God’s plan, I picture this toy. God has a specific, wonderful plan for His people. Everyone plays a role in His plan. But the ones who choose not to follow or have not received the invitation to follow are missing. Instead of having a completed, beautiful picture with all of the pieces in place—we don’t see the whole picture. Something…someone is missing.
I know there will be some who choose to not follow Christ but I want to be committed to reaching those who will become a part of God’s big story, His Master plan for our lives. I want to know that I doing my part to change eternity. I want God’s big picture to be realized. Looking at the picture right now may not always make sense. It may not be clear what God is doing but we can know that inevitably God’s big picture will be realized and His big picture is going to be amazing.
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I just got done reading a chapter about Sabbath from the book, "I am not but I know I AM," by Louie Giglio. My comments going to sound off base, but it make sense with your scripture and proclaiming God's great story!
"God gives rest to his loved ones"
God gives rest and we need to take it. We get so caught up in do, do, do, that we forget that "He builds..." "He protects..." I beleive we send a message at time with our tenacity that we can do well enough on our own.
Rest refreshes us, realigns our heart, and re-energizes His people. Some times we think we have what we have, because we worked really, really hard. Not true...your scripture you qouted says it. Our life's mission is to make much of Him and less of me.
I love what Louie said,
"The world doesn't need more stars--that is, not if the story we are part of already has one. Our challenge is not so much to shun the spotlight as it is to redirect any bright light that comes our way onto Him."
Great blog Chris!
Also, by rest I don't mean laziness, but passionately involved in aligning our heart with God. Not checking out of the world and forsaking God while numbingly playing countless hours of X-box. God-rest...His time.
Everything we are, everything we have, everything we do – it all belongs to God. Someone might be able to build up a fortune, become CEO, and get everything that they THINK they want, BUT all they are doing is playing the cards. Someone might get lucky and win it big – 2, 3, even 4 or more times. The problem is the mentality. Those who choose to live without God are living with the mentality of a gambler. If you flip a coin enough times, it WILL land on heads. If you walk on ice for long enough, you will slip. These are not hypothetical suppositions, but facts. On my own, I am walking through the world like a blind man. Since the universe is infinite (and I AM NOT), I cannot hope to see the big picture. It is impossible for me (not being God) to see how things fit together in the intricate tapestry of perfection. What looks good to me (from my point of view), might actually be BAD. Similarly, what looks bad to me – might actually be good. I am sure we all remember things that we thought we couldn’t live without. Eventually, we often find that those things that we thought we HAD TO HAVE, were actually bad for us. If people actually knew what they wanted (and acted on it) then reason dictates that there should be no divorce, no break ups, no changes of college majors, no changing ones mind,....—IF WE ACTAULLY KNEW WHAT WAS BEST FOR THEM AND NOT JUST WAHT THEY WANTED!!!
The Bible has a great passage that reminds me of this.
Romans 8:28
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
I can never say that I (on my own) will be able to make everything in my life work for the good. If I could, I would have to be all knowing AND perfect. With God, however, all things will work for good. I cannot see the options, variables, or outcomes from my FINITE point of view. It is the “height of hubris” to think that we can do it on our own. I do KNOW that there will be a day when I will look at events in my life and say to God, “that’s why You let that happen, now I understand, THANK YOU!” I can name plenty of events in my life that might seem horrible, but worked for the best. If God had let me have MY WAY (what I wanted), I do not want to think about where I might be now.
It feels good knowing that I have God in my corner AND that (if I love God – which implies that I will follow God’s will for my life), all things will work for the good. I do not have to worry about defeat. It does not exist. If problems happen in life, I can rest assured that God will work it all to the good. God is the light in the stormy see. If I navigate towards God, I will be safe. If I veer away from God and follow my own path, the ship of my life will sink.
It makes perfect sense that working so hard to control our little lives and generate our own light is useless. In reference to the "Lite Bright", what can a single, simple piece of the whole do to guide its placement in the picture or shine without a Source? Nothing. After all, what good would the colorful pieces be without a light Source? Rest comes when we grasp the concept that we are so small, a minute fragment of the picture and we are actually not in control. All our striving seems mindless when we realize that God actually wants us to rest. He is God, we are not. Knowing it's His light shining through us giving us life and purpose, not our own, is my idea of rest.
Great insight Chris!
Amen! It was awesome to sit and read this blog so it could reiterate to me why I even exist. I know that I was created for an awesome purpose, but most days I get so busy never accomplishing my "to do" list that my purpose...my very reason I am living, breathing is pushed back in my subconscious. I always know it's there, but I need to do more. I need to meditate on God and His purpose for me. Thanks Chris for reminding me to look up every once in a while from my busyness.
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