Amidst life's busy schedule, we who are fortunate enough to take time off our to-do lists have at least once, had the opportunity to stop and ponder upon the meaning of life. As cliche as it sounds, our lives are no doubt, defined by what we think it to be. John Piper in his book "don't waste your life" disagrees, and for good reason too.
Our lives, were entrusted to us; our very breadth that we breathe so naturally, subconciously, was a gift, is a gift. A gift not to be taken for granted, not to be wasted.
We were created for a reason. Whether you like it or not, we don't belong to ourselves. "For we are God's workmanship (in some translations, it says 'masterpiece"), created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" - Ephesians 2:10.
Many of us know this verse by hard. Many of us try really hard to see, what it is God has intended for us to do. Many more of us, still waiting for a thunderous revealation, miss the still small prompting of the Holy Spirit. Even more of us, try so hard, pray so hard, pray so much, that we forget to stop to listen. We forget that prayer, was never meant to be unidirectional. It was meant to be a conversation, and like any conversation, we ought to listen, more than talk. Pastor Edmund Chan said this, "...don't worry that you don't know what to do. Do what you know, and soon, you'll know what to do..." (thanks pastor David for sharing). Granted, many of us have had a calling from God into a specific area of ministry, and God really does call! Specific ministry aside though. One thing we are ALL called to do, is to Love God. To put it all together, "don't worry that you don't know what to do, love God, and soon, you'll know what to do!"
Simply, to love God.
Because when we love God, we delight in God, and we delight in bringing praise to God, and we glorify him. When we love God, we fulfil our purpose for living. We fulfil our purpose for being created. For we were created, to enjoy, delight, in a relationship with God. Our love for God, our relationship with him, ought to be the foundation of our service. Because if you think about it. If we truly loved God, everything follows naturally. If we truly loved someone, we would delight in getting to know that person, we would delight in saying things and doing things to make that person happy, we would rejoice in things that makes that person glad, and we would weep about things that break that person's heart. We would (subconciously or with effort) grow to dislike what that person hates, and mimick his/her mannerisms. We would love the people he/she loves, and we would avoid the people he/she doesn't. (God doesn't not-love anyone, for again, we are all created in his image, to be children of God, to enjoy a personal relationship with Him)
And when we truly love God. We spend time with him. At one point in my life, I was doing my Quiet Time on a daily basis. But.. I somehow or rather, ended up neglecting God for the rest of the day.. at another point in my life, I thought I had a eureka moment when I realised I could 'spend time' with God by including him into most aspects of my life (I dare not say every moment). But I ended up compromising in the frequency of my Quiet Time. Slowly I stopped doing it totally. It wasn't until I was in a long-distance relationship with a girl that I realised how I WRONG (in all aspects of the word) I was, in thinking that by talking to God constantly throughout the day, I didn't have to set aside time for him. I never realised the pain and heartache I caused God to suffer from discontinuing my Quiet Time with him just because it was inconvenient, until I felt it for myself, when someone I loved, couldn't afford to set aside time for me. For once in my life, I felt I understood how God felt.
We don't have to worry about ANYTHING at all. We are called to do ONE THING, above all else, that is to LOVE HIM.
How deep is your Love for God?
For God so loved the world (that's you and me), that he gave his one and only son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross, so that whoever believes in him (that by his blood, shed on the cross, our sins are taken away, so that we can come back to God), shall not perish but have eternal life - Adapted from John 3:16
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