If you knew you could do anything, and it would never fail, what would you do? Isn’t it the same the thing when we hear this: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”(Jeremiah 29:11)
Is it our human tendency to doubt that causes us to relentlessly drive ourselves to the point of exhaustion in an effort to achieve some greatness or legacy for the Lord when in reality we were born with it to begin with?
Is it not possible that we are doing now what we are supposed to be doing? I believe that if you have committed yourself to something with intention it is entirely possible that you are precisely where you should be!
We are bombarded with advertising offering us up the spectrum of finding happiness: living in an upscale neighborhood, having a well-toned body, being a celebrity or finding a romantic soulmate - yet we know that finding meaning in the material world is not satisfactory.
We torture ourselves asking if we should be doing more in service, for our community, for our family. Michael Phelps - after winning 28 Olympic gold medals, being a role model for millions, having a loving wife and children, wealth and fame - found himself addicted to alcohol and drugs contemplating suicide. Even being the greatest of all time (GOAT) didn’t satisfy.
When we punish ourselves by having constant expectations of what we should be doing, are we really finding our identity in Christ? The Lord throughout his brief life continually spoke of God as compassionate. When we beat ourselves up for not doing more, is that really the voice of Christ identification? “And so, we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1 John 4:16)
-Shira Pacult (a contributing writer and a member of the COBI community)
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