Life Is Not A Waste

I've learned that my life is not a waste of time. God has used my past life and mistakes to glorify Him in my new life He's given me. I'm forever grateful.

Your life is not a waste. You are a child of the King and He is present in your suffering and He thinks you are beautiful and He can still redeem and bring you to glory.

This imperfect vessel gets to be a conduit of perfect grace.Don’t be afraid when your plans change. God has things for you you haven’t yet had the guts to imagine for yourself.

Don’t be afraid to disappoint people. It can be the most liberating thing in the world, to refuse to be held hostage by the expectations of others, even when those others are incredibly loving and well-meaning people. So go ahead and disappoint some people and show yourself that it won’t kill you.

I’m still standing. Disappointment hasn’t made me wither up and die. I stay as close to the call of Christ as I can, I start over when I mess up, and I get over it when people aren’t happy with me. And I am a bit freer than I was; not all the way there, to be sure, but a little farther down the road.

Don’t be afraid of the world. Some of us seem to feel so under attack by the culture that we sequester ourselves in little communes with other people just like us, and it’s understandable but it’s the kiss of death, spiritually and intellectually.

You have nothing to fear from the world. Christ has already told you He has overcome it, and what He has overcome, you have power to overcome. Engage it. Understand it. Know why people think the way they think and what they care about and what they’re afraid of and what makes them laugh and what keeps them up at 3 in the morning.

Remember the first Bible verse you ever learned: “For God so loved the world.” God loves the world. And one of the signs of a God-lover is to love the things He loves. And you can’t love what you don’t know.

Get to know people you don’t agree with. Get to know people of other races, other cultures, other religions, other political convictions. Know some people who are activists for causes you think are ridiculous. They will give nuance and texture to your world, and they will be part of the fire God uses to test and refine your faith.

When I vote and when I speak and when I consider my commitment to human rights, I am affecting the fate of real people. At the very least, it will make me think harder and pray harder. And that is never a bad thing. And of course the cultural exchange works both ways: they will never be able to listen to stereotypes of evangelicals as mean, narrow-minded bigots without seeing your face.

Don’t be afraid of the church, in all of its multihued, chaotic, messy glory. Truthfully, as you know more and more believers of all stripes, there will be days when you think: God has no standards and no taste. Other days, of course, this is what gives you hope for yourself. If you stay fenced in behind a narrow, legalistic version of Christianity, if you let yourself get caught up in petty theological squabbles, you will miss some of the greatest blessings God has for you.

So fear not: not the world, not the church, not your own unique callings and paths. “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon you, because the Lord has anointed you to preach good news to the poor. He has sent you to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Isaiah prophesied it; Jesus fulfilled it. And because you are part of the glorious Body of Christ, it is your job description. Imperfect conduits of perfect grace; ordinary people with extraordinary callings. Be well, be blessed.