Each New Year
brings myriads of goals to be attained. With each goal comes number of plans to
achieve it and each plan sets a hundred of “to-do” lists just to accomplish it.
Just processing all of these makes me weary… and I haven’t started any of it
yet.
Why are we
doing all of these? For the people to see how completely accomplished we are? Come on, many of those who reached
the pinnacles of their dreams testify that it is such a lonely life up on the
top! And though schedule after schedule fills each second of each day, at the
end of the day, there is but feeling of emptiness, a vacuum inside the very
soul, a sense of incompleteness, craving and longing for
fullness of life. As King Solomon simply
puts it, it is vanity!
Life is a
rat race!
The world’s language
is bombarded with aspirations for material
completeness - a big house; a brand new car; a successful high-paying jo
and gadgets galore. We thought that with
each acquisition comes completeness of
life. Yet, there is no satisfaction but the desire to acquire more and more.
And this yearning transforms into the spirit of materialism that creates “zombies”
who are striving after nothing.
Sad to say,
even in the Christian community, the language is bombarded with ambitions for ministry completeness – a mega church with
the latest technology; a successful faith-based organization with advocacy for
the poor and marginalized; a famous music team that others copy; a well-sought
speaker on family matters; an author of numerous books, and the list goes on.
We fill our days with demands, expectations, and requirements of a life in
ministry that we lose sight of the very essence why we responded to God’s love on
the first place – that we might have life and have it to the full. In other
words, to be complete in Christ!
Do
achievements define a person? No! It is the character!
If we are
out of focus and lack spiritual insight, our priorities are haphazard, our
efforts are wasted and our labor is in vain. We may believe we are doing so
many things for God but in reality are just “ministry-holics”
waiting to run aground. As Edmund Chan points it out, “we are running after
emptiness.”
It is therefore
essential to assess our true condition in the light of God’s standard. Is our
service caused by an selfish inner ambition or a result of our completeness in
Him? Is our desire to serve triggered by competition or a response of a sinner
saved by grace?
One day, on
that appointed time, we will leave these all behind. The very day we face our
Maker, all the efforts, the strivings and our success stories will soon be
forgotten, and the memories of our life will be like a mist that will soon
disappear into nothingness. No one will remember what we did or who we are.
So what
should then be our goal for the remaining years of our lives? To completely live in God’s love and
purpose, just like Christ.
“If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is
the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on
the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God. This
is how love is made complete among
us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are
like Jesus.” (1 John 4: 15 – 17 NIV)
Living completely in God’s love
simply means to completely align my life to His plan and purpose. 1 John 2: 5 says, “But if anyone obeys His word, love for God
is truly made complete in them. This
is how we know we are in Him.”
I don’t want
to miss this great truth! I resolve to take 2014 one day at a time, aligning
each step with God’s.
I believe He
has a wonderful plan for my life and ministry. It may be serving in a small
rural church; ministering as back-up singer or musician during worship;
teaching toddlers in Sunday School; a prayer warrior; a medical doctor or a nurse in the mountains
of Africa or Asia; a teacher in
Timbuktu; a volunteer in an under-privilege community or a mother caring for her young children. If
this is the niche God has in His heart for me, then I am completely secure through
Him and in Him.
Therefore, I
need not attempt to run the rat race and waste precious time and energy
achieving nothing and going nowhere for if I am in the very center of His grace
and purpose, then, I can completely rest
in Him!
0 comments: