How will people remember you a hundred years from now? Successful CEO? Top entrepreneur? Mesmerizing Speaker? Popular Pastor? Gifted Student? World-Class Worker?
Or will they remember you simply as a worshipper after God’s own heart? One who passionately served God’s purpose in your generation? Paul said that after David had served the purposes of God in his own generation, he died [Acts 13:36]. This suggests that, once we have fulfilled God’s design for our life, we too can exit the stage of history.
Point is, life has meaning when it serves God’s mission. How does your life serve God’s desire for a life changed, a church revived, a nation transformed, and a world evangelized? Life has real meaning not just where there is money in the bank, food in the fridge, or graduates in the family, but when it contributes, in whatever way, to the fulfillment of God’s mission on earth -- no matter the cost!
God’s mission made Abraham a homeless wanderer, Jacob a lonely exile, and Joseph a rejected brother, a slave, and a prisoner on false charges. God’s mission sentenced Israel to 400 years in Egypt, and Moses to 40 years in the desert. God’s mission drove David into the wilderness as a political refugee, and landed Hosea in the red light district to find his wife, not once, but twice! God’s mission nailed Jesus to the cross to die the humiliating death of a messianic pretender.
What do all these have in common? One thing: Whether through severe adversity or spectacular achievement, they all served God’s mission with heart – a heart after God’s own heart. That made the difference. Broken by God and before God, they were refined to define their times. They made a world of difference.
What about us?
Can the wealth of the whole world compensate for a wasted life, a lost soul? When will we learn that life only counts when it serves God’s glorious design? As we take a personal journey of spiritual reflection, allow the Holy Spirit to reshape your values, reorder your priorities, refine your character and reorient your life. Together, let us explore and embrace some of the key principles, values, choices and commitments that made David great, a man after God’s own heart, a God-chaser, God-pleaser. A man who made a world of difference for all generations.
Used with permission by Ed Pousson, primary writer of the LoveSingapore 40-Day 'World of Difference' 2003 prayer guide.
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