Something Bigger, Something Better
A young 19 year old marries a 25 year old man with no job, no home and no plans for future education. My friend asks me, “Isn’t he planning to support her? And what will their lives look like in 6 years, when she has 6 kids, no job, no money, no education, and no future?” It’s interesting how we can look at her situation and see into the future, wishing we could shake this young woman and tell her, “You could be so much more; you have so much potential! Your life could rise out of the poverty cycle and move beyond this small farm town into a bigger world.”
And yet, if I’m honest with myself, this young woman’s plight mirrors my own life sometimes. I allow myself to stay mired in the everyday routines of life, with my eyes only on the pavement in front of my feet. I don’t lift my eyes up and see the world around me and see God’ bigger purposes and His greater plans for me or those I love. I can get into a cycle of spiritual poverty, because I don’t know how to get out.
Does that happen to you sometimes? Are you trapped in a cycle of repeating the same broken behaviors over and over again, following along in the same ruts you’ve created over time? Maybe it’s your anger that keeps getting the best of you, or your pessimistic attitude about everything at work, at home, in the world? Do you return time after time to behaviors you know aren’t healthy like watching hours of meaningless television or turning to substances to calm you , help you “make it through the day,” or wasting time on the internet instead of investing it in your family?
I heard an amazing story yesterday in church about a missionary wife who died on the field, never knowing how her sacrifice changed a village. One little boy was saved and when he grew up, he built a school and through that school, the village came to Christ. It was a reminder to me that God’s purposes are so much bigger than my circumstances.
God’s purposes are BIGGER than your circumstances!
And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
He has something BIGGER, something BETTER for you and me to do and to become in this life. He says that He doesn’t just want to save us from the brink of eternal extermination in hell, hanging on in this life by the skin of our teeth. He doesn’t just want to give us a ticket to heaven and a promise of better next life. He has plans for something better NOW. He wants to work through our lives and in our lives to make us a person whose life shines His glory.
God wants to rescue us out of the cycles of spiritual poverty we live in. When we turn to Him and lift our eyes beyond our limited vision of only what we see surrounding us, He will show us His BIGGER plans. He is at work, changing lives, making things new, and moving in amazing ways and we can be a part of it.
I so agree with you, Heather. He does have something better and bigger in mind for us – this side of heaven. Often I wonder if I let His light shine enough, but than there are situations that give me the opportunity to point to Him and His strength.