Right Where You Are – Week Three

I often wonder if I am underperforming, missing out, or falling short of God’s call. I question if I am pleasing God or simply settling. As uncomfortable as this place may be, I believe wrestling can be a good thing. Many times Scripture urges us to consider our lives, to evaluate, and to grow. 

Work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work His good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13

Think for a minute. Do you know someone who achieved great things but lost the things that really matter? Unfortunately, most of us don’t have to think long before multiple people come to mind. 

Now, let’s make that exercise a little more personal. What about you? Are you achieving great things but missing the most important things? 

Reflect on the following: 

• What if I have the finest possession but no one to enjoy them with?
• What if I reach my leadership goals, but no one wants to be around me?
• What if I achieve the success I long for, but my character is marked by scandal?
• What if I have the money to purchase what I want, but I don’t have any time to enjoy it?
• What if I reach my fitness goals but maintaining them robs my joy for the present?

I don’t know about you, but too I often count the wrong things. I look outward to see if I measure up when God would have me look inward. I get obsessed with the path and plan, forgetting God is focused on who I am becoming, not just where I am headed. 

Like many of us, the religious leaders of Jesus day were obsessed with external measures. They added laws upon laws upon laws and focused on strictly following those regulations. In their desire for perfection and righteousness, they missed God right there in front of them. The focus on the external caused them to miss the eternal God in their midst. 

One of the strongest examples of this was Matthew 22, when these religious leaders plotted how they could trap Jesus. They asked question after question trying to trick Him, all the while missing God’s very words. One leader asked, “What is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:26)

Instead of choosing an act of external obedience, Jesus pointed them to the heart of God, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and foremost commandment. The second is like, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Matthew 22:37-39)

The true measure of our life is not in what we accomplish but in how we accomplish it. It is not in where we go but how we go. Not in who we lead, but how we lead. 

In God’s kingdom, love is the ultimate measure.

Do you want to know if you are settling or missing out? Start with an honest evaluation of who you are. Ask yourself:

• How am I behaving today, right where I am?
• Am I loving God – spending time in His presence, listening to His voice, walking in worship?
• Do I love the people in my life well? 
• Do I love what I do and put forth my best effort? 

If our dreams and desires don’t draw us closer to God in daily dependence on Him, it might be time to surrender and lean in. If our ambition for tomorrow keeps us from loving today, we probably need to examine our motives. If our plans for the future don’t center around increasing our character, we most likely want to reconsider those plans. 

Right in front of me is my best opportunity to love. And that is what life is really all about – growing in character and love day by day.