The problem with asking "what are you going to do with your life?"

What am I giving my life to?

A question every person should ask. It’s a question that is often overshadowed by things like “what am I going to do with my life”. The truth is, if you aren’t giving your life to the right thing, what you do with it won’t really matter. The months of May and June are filled with graduations and people completing seasons of their lives. Doubtless these people are being asked the question “what’s next”. For many, they probably have no idea how to answer that question. So I would like to pose another question to ask our high school and college graduates. What are you giving your life to? You’ve gotten your degree or diploma, what are you going to use it for? Is it going to be used for your own personal happiness, for living the American dream? Or perhaps you are going to make it about helping others, curing cancer, stopping aids, bringing justice to victims of human trafficking; all amazing causes. The problem is that often times even if we give ourselves to big, beautiful causes, we burn ourselves out. Because the source of what we are giving our lives to drains us. Don’t get me wrong, I wish more of my generation were doing things that actually matter instead of just trying to do the American dream. It drives me nuts how angry and upset I see people over sports games and yet bring up a topic like abortion, trafficking, or aids and these same people will quickly change the subject.

Because ultimately the majority of people are giving their lives to being happy.

They are giving their lives to the idea that happiness is the goal. The simple truth is, happiness doesn’t satisfy. It’s an emotion; a passing state of being. The truth is we shouldn’t always be happy. We shouldn’t be happy when we hear of Indian children working in quarries, of people in African dying from starvation and aids, of American girls trapped in human trafficking. Happiness is a poor excuse for a goal in life. If we pursue it we shut doors on helping others, because helping others won’t always make us happy. Sometimes it will break our hearts. Sometimes it will require us getting into the muck of the world in order to pull others out.

My challenge is not just to the class of 2014, but to all, what are you giving your life to? Are you giving it to the only one who is worthy to receive your everything? Are you giving it to Jesus? To the one who knows you better then you know yourself? Are you giving it to the one who will be able to use it to it’s fullest potential? God’s plan really is best, and it should be at the forefront of everything we do. It may mean doing something “foolish” like using the degree you just got to go live in a slum in Kenya teaching African children. It may mean going to remote villages in Thailand helping farmers grow their businesses. It may mean getting a good job in the US and loving the people in your office, the person who God places right in front of you. It may be that you are exactly where God wants you, my question is have you asked Him?

For the class of 2014, this is your chance to begin something new, will you start by asking the Author of Life what He would have you do?

Sure, you can advance humanity, cure cancer, stop the spread of aids in Africa, but when you stand before God at the end of the age, I think He will be far more concerned with whether you obeyed His voice. With whether you went left when he told you left, whether you listened for His voice. He will be far more concerned with whether you fully gave your life to Him.

Will You?

I come from a family of heroes…

I’ll be honest, I come from a family of heroes.

   Now before you get images of the incredibles running through your mind I should probably mention that unless you know them personally you have probably never heard of them. None of us have super powers or are famous. But, when I think about the impact that my parents and sisters have on the world around them I am truly inspired.

    My mom and dad are pastors of a small church in PA. They work harder than almost anyone I know. I’m amazed at the love that they carry for our congregation. They started off their lives together as poor YWAM missionaries in Spain. They didn’t have money and their stories of trusting in God and living on the edge always inspire me when I think about doing missions work. For most of their 20s and 30s they were living in a foreign country with almost nothing, simply trusting God to supply and sustain them. I love the fact that this is part of my lineage and they I come from such heroic and radical parents!

    My oldest sister is a now a pastors wife. She is one of the most dedicated people I know. Spending three years doing Bible training in Malaysia, Jenn is such a servant hearted woman. She is dedicated to seeing people changed by the word of God. In a lot of ways Jenn helped to pave the way for Marisa and I to live and work overseas. As the older sister she took the first plunge of living in another country. While I wish I was had the opportunity to get to know her more in high school, I’m so proud of the work she has done. After working with YWAM in Malaysia, Jenn worked for over five years to help support herself and Chris (her husband) while Chris finished seminary, she put off having a family until just this past November, when She and Chris had their first son, Ian. She’s so committed to family and following after God’s calling.

    Marisa moved to South Africa right after graduating college to help empower SA entrepreneurs and inspire hope in a country where poverty and hopelessness are rampant. I’m always so inspired when I think about the sacrifices she has made, and the impact she is having on that nation. Like the rest of my family, she is an incredibly hard working. Her compassion mixed with a strong desire for justice has made her one of the most driven and inspiring people I know. When Marisa commits to something she sticks with it, and I’m blown away by the impact she has had by simply being obedient to God’s calling.

    So why am I bragging on my family? Because I’ve noticed something in their lives that I hope to imitate. My family is focused on eternity. Now don’t get me wrong, they aren’t those people who ignore the present because they are so caught up in the future. Instead, they are the people who realize that these short years they have on earth are a privileged gift to serve God. They have sacrificed much, and yet are some of the most thankful people I know. It is their intimacy with God and their commitment to seeing people transformed by the gospel that inspires me to pursue God even more. We all need heroes in our lives, and God blessed me with a family full of them.

One of the most challenging things I’ve faced this year is my job as an admissions counselor on campus. I talk to a lot of people about the future. Honestly, sometimes it is the most depressing part of my job. Why, you ask? Because I am constantly talking to people who are so focused on this present life that they seemingly don’t care about eternity. When someone starts to tell me that the reason they can’t be a missionary is because of needing a better “job” or wanting to go to a larger university, or even not wanting to leave home, my heart aches

Are we missing the greatest opportunity of our lives because we are so focused on us?

We have been given an incredible gift. A few short years to serve God out of choice while a godless world screams at us to abandon Him. Will we seize the opportunity to sacrifice everything and to reach the world around us?

Will we stop focusing on our stories and embrace the greater story of God redeeming humanity?

   My challenge for you, the reader, is one that I am currently posing to myself. What are my motives for what I am doing? I recently heard it takes asking why five times to truly discover the motive of why you are doing something. It’s painful and scary to ask this question.

But the simple fact is that until we are doing what we do, for the glory of God, it is not worth doing.

So ask the question, pursue the calling, and let Jesus get the glory.