Seeking Christ and choosing the path He has set before us
In the last couple of weeks, I have been reminded a few times about what we consider as valuable and important. Society and our culture constantly showcase what we ought to long for. It might be as subtle as wanting a good cup of coffee and can be as obvious and complex as wanting a better life. I’d venture to say most of those things would be good and desirable. Yet, as we seek to get God’s perspective, they might not be the best.
It is so easy to get caught up with wanting better things that we might loose sight of what is really important. So, what is most important? How can we discern what God sees as best? Will it look like what our society holds as best? I was well into my 30s when I discovered what we ought to hold up as our aim in life. Want the short answer? Knowing Christ and living for Him.
The apostle Paul’s always comes to mind when I ponder about this. Before becoming a follower of Jesus, he would have been considered accomplished and I perceive his society would have thought him to be on the right track to success. Yet, when he decides to preach the Gospel, he practically gave it all up. And for what did he give it all up for? Knowing Christ and living for Him.
According to 2 Corinthians 11:24-27 the cost was high. “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.” This would be what society would see, but Paul grabbed hold of God’s perspective and later realized his gain: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ”.
Though I had read these scriptures and heard probably various sermons about this, it was not until I had to choose between what society said I should want or aim for and what God holds as most valuable. I should probably say I stumbled into it, for though I though I was considering God in my plans, they were more self-centered than God-centered. Not that what I longed for was sinful, evil, or the like. On the contrary, they were all good things. Such as a family, successful career, nice house, reliable car, nice clothes, good food, etc.
As God would have it, when I kept coming to dead ends on those things I had to stop and look to Him. And boy! am I eternally grateful God pulled the rug under my feet. Because I landed on Him and discovered He was all I needed and wanted. When I quit my job, I figured I may have been the talk for some people. Here I was quitting and risking all the stability I had for a whim to go on a sabbatical to seek God’s direction for my life. Little did they know, I was actually obtaining the most secure thing anyone can have…Christ and His plans for my life.
There were times in the weeks that followed when I doubted myself and wondered if I had done the right thing. And on both occasions God used wiser women to set me right. My “grandmother” Lois, was one of them. We were roommates for a few months during my stay in Israel. I loved our conversations throughout our days together. On one occasion she shared her story. Long story short, she had the husband, house, and cars that many would envy yet she was very unhappy. Just so you can get the idea, her house was featured in an Architecture magazine and it was not in a cheap city either. Anyways, as she went on she made a statement along the lines of, “I now live on practically a porch and I am the happiest I’ve ever been.”
It wasn’t what she had, it was who she had. That was Christ. She had come to discover that everything in this life does not satisfy nor matters as much as knowing Christ and living for Him.
It was probably a couple months later, I got the privilege to meet another amazing woman who also had left it all and followed God’s leading to Mozambique then later to Israel. We were on our way from the mall to the house she was housesitting, and she made a comment that quieted my fears. From previous conversations I knew she had had a successful career and had had the house and car to go with it. Her comment was on how now all she owned could fit into a few suitcases, yet she was as fulfilled as could be. I remember telling myself right then, “I am on the right track”.
Somehow we can tend to go with the flow and we start wanting what is held up for us as desirable. Yet, how often do we seek what God would have for us? We can sometimes assume that because it is good and even godly that it might be the best for us or what God would have for us. Therefore, we keep striving and working our tails off to obtain those goals. But I have learned that if we keep running after those things and even if we obtain them, we won’t be satisfied if they are not what God has for us. Or you might come to dead ends, what then? May I suggest you start seeking Christ and asking him for what He has for you. Do not assume that because it is a good thing it is what He has for you.
Maybe you have been feeling like God is calling you out to something that seems far-fetched or crazy. Let me encourage you to take the leap. It may not look like anything you ever thought you would do but if God is calling you, believe me you won’t regret it. And who knows, you might actually get more than you could have ever dreamed of.
