Made for More
All Saints' Day
Do you ever feel like you were born in the wrong time? When I was little, I remember regretting that I had not been born around the turn of the 19th century, because I loved the idea of going off to sea and working my way up to ship’s captain. The story of John Paul Jones fascinated me. The fact that I was growing up in suburbia of the 1980’s and 1990’s seemed like a tremendous letdown.
Why do we feel out of place? It is because we were made for more. We are made for Heaven, and that is what today’s Feast Day of All Saints is all about. We think we want money, fame, and power, but what we really desire is God. Often, possessing him means letting go of so many other things.
Plans vs. Purpose
Proverbs 19:21 reminds us that:
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.
We spend so much time planning out our life and measuring our successes and failures against some pre-conceived notion of what our earthly existence is supposed to look like. I am here to tell you, however, that you may be getting it all wrong. Your plans are less than God’s purpose for your life.
The mind of man is full of so many plans, but it is what God wants that will happen. He tells us what he wants in the Beatitudes. We often think that God wants us to jump through hoops, but God just wants us to come to him. This is at the heart of the Beatitudes. Jesus wants us to be happy in this life and in the next.
Jesus sits down on the mountain to teach. He is not selling a product or trying to convince anybody of anything. Rather, he is willing to open his heart to his listeners, so that they can become disciples.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 5:3).
Too often, we try to measure our worth by our bank account. If you finish life with your bank balance at zero, but you make it to Heaven, you won at life. Life is not about achieving success on our terms. It is about fulfilling God’s will in our lives.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established (Prov. 19:21).
Being poor in spirit invites us to look more at the purpose of the Lord than at our own plans. When you are making plans for your life, are you focused on the next professional goal or do you ever think ahead to the end goal: Heaven? How do we make this practical in our daily lives?
Looking Ahead
All Saints’ Day helps us look forward to our end goal, which is Heaven. We remember the value of the Christian journey. Tomorrow, All Souls’ Day, gives us a chance to embark on that journey in a meaningful way when we pray for the dead. How are you going to live November, so that it helps you grow in your desire for holiness? If your life story feels like a succession of one failure after another, but you make it to Heaven, you won at life. The saints are not holy because life worked out the way they wanted. They are saints because they bowed their wills to God’s Will along the way.
The saints responded to Christ’s invitation to be poor in spirit. You can go through the life of any saint and see how he or she had to check the ego at the door. We don’t get to Heaven by doing what we want all the time, but by carrying out God’s purpose for our lives.
Take 10 minutes today and reflect on God’s purpose and your plans. Which of your plans move you closer to God’s purpose and which of them move you further away. Make a resolution to adjust your plans to his purpose. Your plans are less than God’s purpose for your life. If at the end of life, you can look back and see how his purpose was achieved through all the twists and turns, and broken plans, you have truly achieved success.
At the beginning, I asked you if you have ever felt that you were born at the wrong place and time. I am here to tell you this is impossible. God knew what He was doing when he sent you to the world here and now. His purpose is perfect. Your challenge is to make your plans match his purpose.