I woke up this morning burdened for several of my friends. The words of recent conversations rang in my mind as I recounted the things we had discussed. For the most part, the themes were all the same: I’m so busy. I’m tired all the time. I come home from work and just want to be alone. It’s hard to find joy with my family. I never see my husband. Our schedules have affected our sex life. We’re looking at possible divorce. And the list goes on…
In today’s world, we try to juggle ninety-seven things at once, believing they are all important and worthy of our attention, and we’re tired. Exhausted, actually. Depleted. We have nothing left to give, no more joy, and we’ve spiraled into “Survival Mode.”
Spoiler alert: I’m going to say some things in this post that might be controversial, and maybe even border on meddling. But I believe they are truth from God’s Word, and we need to be talking about this. And here’s why:
All the above does NOT sound like the abundant life Jesus promised us. If this is how followers of Christ are feeling, then no wonder the rest of our world is such a hot mess. We’re barely treading water ourselves, how on earth are we supposed to help those drowning around us, too?
Here’s the thing - Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
I honestly believe that Satan has cast his lies all over the place, and we have taken the bait. As believers we have taken the bait. We have looked around at the options and chosen to believe that this is as good as it gets, and we might as well suck it up and keep going.
That’s bull crap. And I’m sick of it.
Satan is incredibly crafty and clever and he knows what appeals to us! He has studied us and knows our weaknesses and very strategically places temptation exactly where he wants it. He’s no dummy. On the contrary, he “prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8.) Oh yeah, he's got our number. And it’s on speed-dial.
Honestly, it makes me both sad and mad at the same time, because I’ve fallen for his traps too. This is what I truly believe: We have said “yes” to good things for so long, that we do not have any more room for the best things. Our capacity is full. And our life is fine, it’s even good. But it’s not BEST. It’s not ABUNDANT.
This is why I believe it’s so tricky, and such a good plan on Satan’s part: because good things are not bad. They’re actually good! (I know, you’re just beside yourself right now with how profound I am. :) )
With the people that I know, and even myself, Satan is not tempting us with big, crazy bad things that will obviously destroy our lives. He’s not tempting me to become a raging alcoholic or drug dealer, have an affair, kill someone, rob a bank, or whatever. Most likely, my choices won’t land me in jail.
But here’s the tricky part: We’re so busy cramming our schedules and lives with good things, we’re missing out on the best and we’re left with less joy than we could have. We’re less fulfilled than God intends. We may even be missing out on a greater purpose or assignment He has planned because we’re stuffed to the brim with all these other opportunities we absolutely thought we couldn’t say “no” to. Or, we’ve filled our lives with things we thought we couldn’t say “no” to or thought we needed to fill a void. Sometimes our “yes” comes out of nothing more than age-old insecurity and wanting to gain approval. Wanting to be enough. Have what everyone else has.
We are people with a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out.)
And sadly, we don’t realize that in our zealous quest to have it all NOW, in the long run, we really are missing out.
Satan makes us believe that if we actually were courageous enough to say “no” to something good, and run the risk of waiting for what’s best, we would in fact, lose out on both. But that is SUCH. A. LIE. Don’t even believe it for one second.
“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:13
I know this much, God keeps His promises. Every last one of them. If He promises good, then you better believe He’ll give it. And it won’t just be good by our standards, it will be out-of-this-world amazing. Because He wants His children to thrive, to experience His best rather than striving for mediocre and collapsing into bed exhausted every night.
So, here’s the deal. I think we need to do some serious soul-searching, asking God to reveal to us what we need to take off our plates. What “good” things can we erase from our calendars in order to free up space for something “best?” Remember my earlier (super-profound) observation that good things are actually good? Well, that is what makes removing things from our lives difficult. We need the Holy Spirit’s discernment to show us what we need to let go of in order to receive something better.
I can’t tell you what that is for you, but I realize that it may not be easy. For some, it might be letting go of a few extra-curricular activities for your kids so you have more time to actually spend with your kids and your spouse. For others, it may be stepping down from some committees/boards/clubs, etc. God might be asking you to step out in faith and quit your job. (Gasp!) Or perhaps, it’s simply going to bed earlier each night so you can get up early the next morning and spend time with Him. Maybe, maintaining a certain lifestyle is not really as fulfilling as we once thought. Maybe, there’s a better way. Maybe spending less will actually fill us in a way we never thought possible. All of that can be really scary, and on the surface it may look or feel like a major sacrifice. But I believe if we trust the Lord, He will show us that actually, He will fill us with more than we were ever content settling for before. Because, that’s His heart. He longs to be gracious and to show us compassion, not leave us running around ragged, hating our life, and inhaling fast food meals all the time before we dash out the door to the next thing. Call me crazy, but that just doesn’t sound like the definition of abundant.
It’s counter-cultural for sure. It’s probably gonna be straight up hard. But, God does not promise us something that He will not fulfill. Choosing to do the hard thing may draw us back to Him, ourselves, our spouse, and our joy, and He will be with us every step of the way.