1Peter 4:10-12(NLT)
“10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. 12 Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.”
How do we make our lives work from day to day? How do we make them fulfilling, and full of contentment and peace? Many of us struggle with this question. We don’t exactly know what will truly make us happy, but God knows. He starts with helping us to understand that we are not random beings moving throughout our days with no direction. We have a purpose in God’s Will and Plan! Ephesians 1:11(ESV) reveals, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.” Long before we entered our mother’s wombs, God knew us and made a plan for our lives. He has done this because He loves us and desires to work within us for His glory!
2Timothy 1:9(NLT) says, “For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time–to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.” Our Heavenly Father delights in us! He’s blessed us so richly because of His amazing grace, and that grace has been poured out on us through Jesus Christ! This was God’s plan all along, from the very beginning. There’s nothing that you and I can do to alter His wonderful plan. He invites us to position ourselves in it so we can receive all that He has in store.
Our issue is that our minds and hearts are so distracted with what is going on in the world that we are not looking in God’s direction. He has told us that our lives must be saturated with the example and love of Jesus Christ, but many of us are too busy imitating those we see in the world. I know women that are always comparing themselves to one another and trying to measure up to how their favorite celebrities look. They don’t understand that this is taking them away from God’s purpose. Romans 8:5(ESV) says, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.”
This life doesn’t afford us the time to be distracted. We have a purpose and a call to fulfill, and this requires us to be hearers and doers of God’s Word. Jesus Christ makes it plain to us in Matthew 4:4(ESV), “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” God’s Word is our manna. It is the bread that causes us to prosper and flourish. So many of us complain that we don’t know our purpose and what we’re supposed to be doing for God’s Kingdom. James 4:2-3(NLT) addresses this and gives us the remedy. It says, “2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. 3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong–you want only what will give you pleasure.”
We must read and study God’s Word so that we know how to live in a way that pleases Him. This passage in James 4:2-3 makes it clear that we can’t go to the wrong source and expect to find a right solution. We must go to the Source that has all the answers and all the power to solve any issue we may face. We must go to God with our questions about our existences, because He alone has the plan for our lives, and He will tell us, but our hearts must be right. Our motives are all wrong when we go to God with questions about our purpose in His Will and Plan but have no desire or commitment to carry out what He reveals.
Some of us are so busy trying to look like the images of women we see in social media that we are missing the heart that God requires. We’ve got to switch up and put more focus on seeking Him than we do any other thing.
When I was not so busy with the responsibilities I have now, me and my group of my friends hung out together a lot. One of them is a fashionista, and she knew how to put outfits together and make them look like she stepped off a runway. Another friend was a great orator. Her diction was perfect, and she could speak in front of a crowd without missing a beat, she’s fearless. While another friend has a beautiful singing voice. I used to measure myself next to all of them, and sometimes I felt like there was nothing unique about me, but never again will I do that. Knowing that I mean so much to God, that He alone holds the plan for my life, and that His love is the thing that makes me special has made all the difference in how I see myself. Jesus Christ gave his life on the cross to save me from hell, and this makes me as worthy of God’s love as everyone else.
We can’t try to mold ourselves into being someone other than who God has made us. God warns us in Romans 12:2(NLT), “2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” He wants to transform us into the image of His dear Son, Jesus Christ. So, don’t miss out on what God has for you by becoming distracted by others, or what’s going on around you. Our lives mean so much to our Heavenly Father, and we can be confident that if we focus our attention on becoming more like Christ every day, we will prosper, be blessed and content, and full of God’s peace.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
English Standard Version (ESV), The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
“Your Life Means So Much to God” written by Kim Times, edited by Fran Mack and K. Stephens for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2023. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!