Life Plan
Have you found what you were looking for?
What have you been doing to your spiritual health or your body in order to fulfill that emptiness you know is there?
Blind Sided By Life
Undoubtedly, as we pursue life issues and relationships we wonder about the purpose of it all. If you experience life the thought has crossed your mind. As a wise man once said, "What do people get for all their hard work? Generations come and go, but nothing really changes. The sun rises and sets and hurries around to rise again...The rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows again to the sea..."
Look in the Mirror
We work and work to no end and then retire. Rising up early, staying late and end up in bed day after day. Checking our e-mail, text messages, desirable and junk, with no end in sight. Upgrading our computers so one day we trash them for faster, more exciting and cheaper models. Fortunes are amassed so it can be left to another or when we leave this earth it will be our children's inheritance. Retirements savings cut in half.
Adventures in Missing the Point
Some never make it to the point of complete satisfaction. The point is missed. Others "arrive" only to be satisfied for a moment and then trouble. It is not all that it was cracked up to be. In fact, it is identical to where you were years earlier but with more stuff and the potential of gaining more. Stuff does not satisfy but there is one who does. That feeling really never goes away. It is simply masked. Painted over. Hidden by the new drapes or vertical blinds or that iPod. You know the emptiness is there. Searching for a square to fit a round hole.
Your plan? Remove it with 'proven' techniques. Sales. Saks. Scotch. Meth. Cable. Crack. Oppression not Recession. If successful you climb the ladder of life for more acquisitions that please the eye or satisfy the gossip of the Jones next door or next state. Pride also rises in your doings. After all, you got this way through hard work. Deserved. Success. The voice of a deepened sense for more drowns out spiritual reality. The problem is that you take along these techniques like the skin on your back and it 'grows' along. Some do not succeed and quickly spiral downwards. 'Proven' techniques manufactured by man is man made. An adventure starting anywhere, heading nowhere, gaining nothing. Enough said.
New Motion, Wrong Direction
Finally. A friend recommends a book, a movie or a movement that hits the spot. It hits the spot like an undercooked burger with all the toppings imaginable. It always seems good going down but there is something about it. Yes, it looks good. Right, it smells good. But there is something about it that raises a red flag. The flag is raised but we continue to consume. Tasty? Maybe. Good for you? No. These secrets of contentment do not pass muster. Deep down inside you know there is something realy wrong. Your gut tells you.
God's plan.
There is a plan that succeeds to an infinite degree. This discussion is not on the validity of the existence of God through Christ. Reality. Freedom. Contentment. Christ came to set you free. Freedom must be understood in the context of knowing where you are currently. Trapped? Absolutely.
Face it, without God's plan we really have no plan because everything we construct and imagine eventually (regardless of the science, know how, intention, passion or technique) will fail.
Recognize your state of affairs. A one year old instinctively does what he is not supposed to do without ever having looked at television or have the mind to understand that violence at the movies will one day influence him to negative actions. When infants are told to stop, why do they continue anyway? The nature in the human spirit is opposed to God. Made in His image? Yes. Reject His image? Right. This disobedience results in a permanent stay away from the Lord unless there is intervention.
Christ. Christ is the advocate that speaks on our behalf to bring satisfaction and peace. The methods we use are powerless against the dark force that rages on the inside of people living apart from the Lord. All are hopeless and sin. There is hope, joy and love found in the heart of one who follows Jesus Christ.
Grace and Faith ... This is the power that breaks the chains. Standing alone faith and grace serves no purpose but adding 'in Christ' sets us free from the plans we have constructed ourselves. Believing in Christ gives us everlasting life. We do not build our lives for an extended stay on earth but for an eternity with our Savior, Jesus Christ. Christ has come to set us free.
What's next? Decide in your heart to follow Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior. He will remove your sin because of God's love for you. "For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." The work has already been done for us. "For God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." Our part is to accept Him and follow Him. The main problem: accepting His love without becoming good enough or doing enough charity to please Him. This is the mercy behind His grace.
Pray. Ask the Christ to forgive you of your sins and wash you clean from a life lived apart from Him. Accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Ask Him to lead you to a church where the word of God is proclaimed and people are cherished. Tell Him you need His help in finding the right place and people. Ask Him all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
If you have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior please contact us and we will be thrilled to hear from you. Find a church. If you have more questions we will love to talk and pray with you.
We care. May the Lord bless and keep you. E-mail:
connect@churchofchicago.org