Day 2900 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

2 Timothy 2:10 NIV

Have we made our lives so introspective that we're all but unable to grasp the real reason that we're still here? Contrary to what's obviously common thought, our lives are not our own. Our time is not an endless stream of opportunities meant to be exhausted on only ourselves. Our lives were not designed for us to live them in complete solitude of mind as if no one else is living theirs. In truth, God placed us in this sea of faces in order to make ripples, to create waves, to serve as a lifeline to those sinking beneath the surface.

But often that opportunity is left unfulfilled as it likely requires our willingness to dive into His will and swim against the current of all that's seen as normal, comfortable and acceptable in the hearts and minds of those we're sharing this ball of dirt with at the moment. His calling and the path it follows does not afford us the self-fulfilling ideals that we've spent so many days envisioning. Instead, His path is one paved with complete humility as evidenced by the example of Christ that we've been called to follow.

However, many in this place see their time as an entitlement that won't run out anytime soon. Folks live as if they have forever still remaining in this place. And it’s clearly gleaned from messages like the all-popular 'live your best life' that much of society is in fact seeking only the fulfillment of their best life with that time that they assume won't run out. And when that is the pursuit, the trials and struggles that life often holds will be met with utter hatred and contempt as they seem to only stand in the way of our enjoyment of our best life.

To say that it's sad to undervalue life's hardship in our own lives is one thing. But to undervalue those hardships to the point that we fail to see how they can be used to help others all but prevents one of the main purposes of this calling we've been granted in the cross and life of Jesus.

While so many are so worried about constructing their ideal existence, we bear the Name of One who came to this earth to lay down His life for the good of others. Now, how can we rightly call ourselves by that Name if we are unwilling to follow the example He so lovingly laid out for us to follow? If we remain unwilling, not unable but unwilling, to care and love and forgive and serve those around us, then how is it exactly that we're Christians?

And I say unwilling because it is in fact a choice that is in fact made every single day. We alone choose how we live, what we focus on, who we love, why we love, and what we do it all for. So, what is our reason? What is our goal? What are we trying to accomplish with the time and experience and opportunity that we have been granted in this life?

Sadly, we seem as though we're not really even all that interested in suffering for our own dreams. The sense of selfish entitlement alive and flourishing in this place is one of the most disgusting things I've witnessed. Not because selfishness is something foreign to a human mind, but because the rapid advancement of the appreciation of being self-absorbed is only fueling the wrong fire. It's only encouraging the further separation of society. It's only drawing more lines that more people are unwilling to cross as they're perfectly content focusing on themselves.

But again, have we forgotten the purpose for which we are here?

It isn't comfort. It isn't success. It's not personal achievement. It is not to live our best lives but to live our best faith. It's to serve, to love, to lift up, to encourage, to rebuke, to correct, to teach, to learn, to grow and inspire growth. The biggest problem with focusing solely on ourselves is that we forget that other people are in need of what God has given us to be used for the fulfillment of His will. When our will becomes our goal we can be certain that His is not.

And as we've been discussing lately, that fact is evident in our gross hatred of all things hard and heavy. We loathe the trials that give us the experience that could be used to help someone else going through something similar. We hate the rain that helps us grow which gives us the strength to lift up those struggling to stand. We avoid the trials that bring the fire that refine our hearts by burning away the pointless pursuits that prevent our passionate preaching of the only pathway that leads to peace.

WE ARE NOT HERE FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF OUR LIVES!

We are here to follow Christ's example by laying down our lives if it means that someone else receives the message that sparks their heart back to life and encourages them to seek Christ with the same reckless abandon that they witness in our faithfulness in following Him.

God doesn't send life's trials to break us down but to build us up so that we can learn how it's done and turn around and help others do the same. He doesn't put us in prison to punish us for our failures but so that others can see that worldly chains cannot chain our faith. He doesn't keep us out of the lion's den but sends us into it where He can prove to everyone watching that He can shut the mouths of those beasts that seem too powerful to overcome.

He didn't kill Christ to prove only His righteous vengeance that will be poured out on all the sinful. He did it also to prove that He can bring the dead back to life so that we can learn to trust in Him to help our dead hearts beat once again. And He offers to revive us so that we can tell others about this new life we've found through the death to sin that is absolutely necessary.

So, you see, He knows what He's doing and thankfully His purposes aren't limited to our immediate benefit like our selfish reasons usually are. He is willing to bring harm if it helps us appreciate healing. He will send the rains that flood away all we’ve hoped for that we can learn to hope again in Him alone. He breaks down to build up, removes in order to replace, and bends us to keep us from breaking. He is willing to kill in order for those killed to gain a new perspective on life.

Are we willing to die if it means that we learn to appreciate life again? Are we willing to die so that others can find life in Christ? Are we willing to be used as examples of His provision knowing full well what past examples have endured?

The life of a follower of Christ allots no room for selfish pursuits. It's one of ultimate humility shown through the willingness to embrace life's trials in order to display God's strength. It's an inclination toward the sacrifice rather than away from it as we know from the cross just how powerful and perfect a sacrifice can be. It's an eagerness to learn the hard lessons taught by life's hardships so that we gain the experience needed to help others going through something hard.

The fact is that God works through us, but only when we get us out of His way. Our cravings for comfort and calmness may give us a live of ease, but friends, a life of ease is a life void of meaning. If it never pushes us then we never advance, and if we never learn to advance then we can never help anyone else. And honestly, while we may personally be willing to skate through life never make any progress or improvement of our own, failing to help those around us is arguably an even bigger failure.

Have we reached the point where we're so unwilling to better ourselves that we're not even interested in helping others who do want better? Is our personal comfort really so important that we're willing to risk the hope and peace and eternal life of those who God put us here to help reach?

The other day I said that many of us fail to see that we are in fact preachers. We are all living testimonies living testimonies that testify to God's power and provision. But as we grow ever inward, our ability to reach out and share this joy we've found begins shriveling away. And if we're not careful, that opportunity to help someone else may eventually die as we opt for a life seeking only to live our best life.

Friends, our best comes later. Our promise is waiting at the finish line. Our ultimate prize is not an easy and comfortable life that ends, but an eternal joy that knows no end. Maybe our faith will be met with hatred and judgement from a fallen world falling further. But our courage and resiliency in the face of that strife may very well inspire others to learn about where our faith comes from.

Perhaps our road will lead away from the comfort of friendships and material success. But maybe that will help someone else see that all they really need is the hope found in Jesus. Our faith may, like Paul here, land us in chains sitting in some prison somewhere. But maybe that will prove that our joy can't be contained or confined to a specific circumstance.

There may even come a time when our faith is grounds for our death. But if we have the assurance of what awaits us on the other side of this darkening world and we face that end with a smile knowing what's to come, then we can hope that that message sent by that smile would spark a wondering in the soul of someone who may end up finding that same joy in Jesus for themselves.

And if we live with that excited urgency to help others find Christ no matter what we have to do to in order to arrange that meeting, then our worldly death will only grow sweeter as we know that we can look forward to rejoicing on the other side with all those who may have been helped by witnessing our faith remain unbreakable in the face of harrowing difficulty.

So you see, it's not all about us. It never has been. And the trials and challenges we face only prove that. God doesn't just make life hard so that we become bitter. He leads us to those hardships to make us better. He does what's necessary to strengthen us so that we can strengthen others. Faith is not this solitary set of beliefs that so many seem to think it is. Faith is our opportunity to believe in something bigger than us that inspires us to live for more than us.

Contrary to what many seem to be concerned about, life isn't about what's in it for us at all. It's about what we can offer to others. And friends, our scars, our failures, our lessons learned the hardest way possible stand as resources that we can use to help those around us. To go through life being angry every time we face something hard is a sad way to live. To go through life reluctantly growing because of those hardships is a little better, but still sadly limited. To go through life embracing the growth granted through hardship but keeping it to ourselves is still better but still sad.

To go through life appreciating the hardships as we come to realize they afford us not only personal growth but also the knowledge and experience needed to help others, now that's how to live a life that actually means something.

Used to be that most people wanted to leave a mark, to make a difference, to be remembered. Now, that's another topic for another day. But, if you want to do something that matters, something that leaves a mark, something that truly makes a difference, allow God to lead you to and through what offers you the opportunity to help someone else. Because it's only when we lay down our lives that we finally realize what’s worth living for.

In the end, none of us are getting out of this alive. We may as well stop trying to avoid that fact by covering over it with selfish comfort and get to living these fleeting lives the best way possible. And that's by giving them away. The way I see it, we're losing ‘em anyway right? Why not choose to give them up and let God use the rest of this time we've got for something bigger than us?

Because it’s not what we go through that matters. It’s what we do with it, or rather what we allow God to do with it that truly makes all this mean something.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold