What comes to mind when I ask you what are the desires of your heart? I've been asking myself this lately, or rather God is asking me this. I was sad to discover I have no idea. Somewhere along the path of doing life, I have lost track of my desires. Maybe I dismissed them thinking it was selfish to want more, or maybe even wrong to dream because maybe it was outside of God's will for my life.
I realized many of us shelve the dreams and ideas in exchange for what the world desires for us. We don't even realize we are doing it. At a young age we are encouraged to follow a certain course to a specific definition of success. Responsibility replaces the idea that we should follow God wholeheartedly, even if defies worldly wisdom.
So we begin to plan and map out our lives to live safely with little chance of hardship and risk. We encourage solid career paths and wise saving plans. Don't get me wrong, these aren't bad things. The problem comes when we think we should be content with these things when we were designed with more in mind. We end up where the world says we should be and find we aren't fulfilled.
Sadly even in the Church, where we should be encouraged into our destinies, we often find limits. We think callings require seminary degrees. We think what we have to offer stops at our tithe checks. Sometimes, it is seen as humble to assume you aren't cut out for anything amazing. This false humility strips us of our identity and our destiny.
God made us with a specific purpose in mind. He planned ahead the things he wanted us to do. He placed desires in us that would propel us into this plan. Our dreams and desires are no mistake. He didn't give us dreams to tease us or to teach us how to be content with something less.
Somehow we have fallen for the idea that the cross was to bring forgiveness of sins and that is all. The rest is waiting for eternity to come. Eternal is...eternal....as in it already started and won't cease. We're in it when we're in him. The cross was not only for forgiveness, it was to have life to the full. (John 10:10 )
To be fully alive, we have to know who we are. What our identity is in him. That means having the confidence to pursue, unashamedly, what he has for us. It means claiming the desires he has given us and understanding he gave them to us knowing us and loving us. Much of the Church is bored, because they still think they are just sinners saved by grace waiting for his return. But he is waiting for us to understand we are sons and daughters of a King who have a key role to play in the war that is taking place until he comes. If we knew how vital our role was, would be willing to give it up? Would we settle for an average life of getting by when we were made to do greater things than Jesus did. (John 14:12 )
I believe God is waking up his Church. He is reminding his bride who she is and how wonderful and great her calling is. It starts by finding out who he says we are. It starts by looking at the desires of our hearts under the lens of who God says we are instead of under the limited lens of who the world says we should be. Don't settle for average when you've been made extraordinary. Don't shy away from risk and adventure in favor of comfort and familiarity. Don't apologize for wanting more out of life. You were meant for more.
"But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light." 1st Peter 2:9
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