I want a life that has significance. You do, too.
I don’t need to be famous. I’m not trying to become powerful. Few of us achieve those things, and not everyone who does succeeds. In fact, some people pursue these things for many years and in the end discover that they have squandered the life they were given.
What will give your life true significance? The teaching of Jeremiah gives us important clues. Before he was born, God formed him. He was made for a purpose appointed by God, and the Bible tells us that he was faithful to live it out.
You are valuable because you were made by God.
From the moment you were born you’ve been a treasure to Him. He formed you personally in your mother’s womb. You are a unique and special creation of the Maker of heaven and earth Himself.
I once stood in front of a glass case containing a collection of the fabulous, jewel-encrusted “Easter eggs” created by Peter Carl Fabergé for the Czars of Russia as gifts for their wives and mothers. What beauty! And what monetary value! A single Fabergé egg was recently estimated to be worth more than $30 million dollars. Great value comes from bearing the imprint of a great maker.
Imagine, then, the value of something made with love and care by God Himself. The majestic and sovereign God of all creation is your creator. Just like Jeremiah, you were formed by God Himself and known to him. Nothing will ever bring greater value to your life than this.
You are valuable because God has made you for a purpose.
Just as Jeremiah was “set apart” and “appointed” by God to be a prophet, God made you for a purpose that is important to Him. I was appointed to the work of Christian ministry while my wife was appointed to the work of mother and school teacher. You may have been appointed to some other purpose in life. A purpose is important not because of what it is but because of whoassigns it. God made you for a purpose in His great plan – what a tremendous daily dose of encouragement!
Today this essential truth is increasingly forgotten. As in Jeremiah’s day people say, “At last we are free from God! We don’t need him anymore!" (Jeremiah 2:31). It’s gone so far that Ferris Jabr writing in the New York Times ARGUES that the very idea of “life” is an illusion. He says: “Likewise, ‘life’ is an idea. We find it useful to think of some things as alive and others as inanimate, but this division exists only in our heads.” This may seem like an extreme view, but it’s similar to the thoughts we all have from time to time that we are not really that important. These are lies, and we should not listen to them.
You may say, “But I am not famous, powerful or wealthy. I do small things in quiet places. No one really cares about what I do.” Listen! A purpose appointed by the Lord no matter what the size is immensely important. If in the eyes of the world you feel small, take heart. You are important to Him. If you feel large take no glory in it because the honors of the world fade and pass away. A purpose appointed by God endures—forever!
Faithfulness is your key to a life of significance.
Since God has made you for a purpose, your key to significance is faithfulness. Do what He has set you apart to do, large or small, without regard to anything else.
Never doubt that two minutes of faithfulness to even a small but God-given task is more worthwhile than an entire life achieving goals that did not come from Him. The issue is not what you do but why you do it. The Scripture puts it this way "I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked… He gives us grace and glory" (Psalm 84:10b, 11b).
Jeremiah 2:5 makes a critical point. God’s people have been unfaithful to him. He says: ”They worshiped worthless idols, only to become worthless themselves."
What a lesson in these words! To build your life around anything less than God Himself is to worship something worthless. This is what the Bible calls worshipping an idol. If you do this, two things inevitably happen: First, just like the worthless idol, you become worthless too. Failure to be faithful to God sucks significance out of your life as surely as fire pump drains a reservoir. The second impact is more serious still. Worshipping idols destroys a life. Inevitably they prove to have offered a false hope that will leave you short and wondering how things could have gone so wrong.
Many years ago the man who led me to Christ planted a thought in my heart that has never left. "If God calls you to be a street sweeper," he said, "Never stoop down to become a king." Martin Luther King, Jr. said this more eloquently:
If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures, sweep streets like Beethoven composed music, sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera. Sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say: Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.
If you are faithful to God, your life will be filled with His grace and glory. It will be filled with grace because it will have been a life transformed by God's love. It will be filled with glory because the imprint of His purpose will be unfading and everlasting. It will be filled with joy because the greatest joy comes from serving Him.
TAKE ACTION!
Identify the lies
Write down a list of the things that are running through your head today. Once you have the list, read through it again. Circle the things that are the Holy Spirit speaking and put a line through anything that it is a lie from Satan.
If God is asking you do something, give yourself a deadline and do it. If Satan is lying to you, take some time today to take those lies to God in prayer and ask Him to show you the truth.
Let go of shame
Read Jeremiah 31:3, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
Spend some time in focused prayer and ask God to show you any hurt or shame that you have not brought to Him. Ask Him to show you any thoughts, ideas or attitudes that you have about yourself that are rooted in this pain. Confess these attitudes and ask God to restore you. Ask Him to show you how much He loves you and ask Him to give you the strength to walk in His freedom.
Read Isaiah 41:9-10. Personalize it and pray it back to God: Father in Heaven, You have chosen me and have not rejected me. Help me not to fear, for You are with me; teach me not to be dismayed, for You are my God. You will strengthen me and help me; You will uphold me with Your righteous right hand. Amen.
Read more at http://thelife.com/challenges/having-a-life-of-significance