Challenges Ahead

I’ve been working on this idea for awhile but just couldn't seem to get it to say what I wanted.  Here it goes ….

Sometimes it feels like I am just going through the motions. I do the same thing day after day.  I get up.  I get cleaned up and I drive to work.  I work on pretty much the same thing every day and then I drive home.  I eat dinner. I work on a few things and I go to bed. Then I get up and do it all over again.  Day after day like a lab rat on a wheel. Life is pretty predictable.  It sort of reminds me of the movie “Groundhog Day.”

Life can be really mundane and boring.  It grinds away at me.  People are mean and swear at me every day.  Sometimes it seems like I am a punching bag.  Life is vicious.  It doesn’t kill me quickly but gradually wears away at me.

I feel insignificant.  I feel dissatisfied. My soul desperately wants to run from the urgent things and focus on important things.  I just don’t know how to make it happen. I know this isn’t the abundant life that Jesus promised.

When I am discontented, I begin to think through some more deep and difficult questions.  Questions like: Is this what I am supposed to be doing?  Is this where I am supposed to be?  Why am I here?   Is there more to life than this? Is what I believe about eternity really true? Is it really worth it?

Are these times in my life dangerous?  They cause me to question, but they can also cause me to be dissatisfied with the status quo.  They are the enemies to my settled beliefs.  They make me uneasy.  They stir me up.  They make me think.  They may even make me angry.  However, these are the questions I must ask myself if I am ever to become the person God has created me to be.

Only after asking the difficult questions and coming to grips with my beliefs and my answers to those nagging questions can I move on.  Only after becoming dissatisfied with the way the world is and the way my life operates can I change my perspective on it.  It can make me a change agent for others who are aimlessly going through the motions.  It can lead me on a mission to help others discover why they are here, why they are alive, what it is all about.

I needed to come to the place in my life where I owned my own Christianity.  It isn’t my parents’ faith and it isn’t my culture’s faith.  It is my faith.  It is my commitment to Christ.  It was (and is) my struggle to own my own beliefs that lead me to realize that they are worth fighting for. I had to start to honesty living what I say I believe.  My faith has become real, living, and active.  It effects what I do and say every day.  It effects every decision I make and how I treat others. 

I no longer live life as a spectator but as an active participant with a role to play.  I have a story that is worth sharing with others.  I never know who I might impact and who they might turn around and impact.  I will never know the impact my faith can/will have on the world around me.

Take the challenge.  Have the courage.  Throw yourself whole-heartedly into your Christian life.  Imagine, dream, work, pray, serve, and live a radical life. There are challenges ahead but none that can’t be conquered. 

Henry Varley inspired D.L.Moody by saying, “The world has yet to see what God can do with one man fully consecrated to him.”  Moody replied, “By God’s help I aim to be that man.”

What’s stopping you?  Do you want to be that person?  Listen to your heart.  Act in obedience.  Live with a strong commitment to your faith. Dare to be different than those around you.

 

I’ve been greatly impacted by the book Honestly: Really Living What We Say We Believe and some of these ideas are from that book.