You don’t matter. Everything you want to become and want to
do in life is never going to happen. You are stuck, and the only good that
comes from your life is that you managed to live it until you die – whenever
that day comes. You might bag groceries. Maybe you are at part-time job.
Everything you have done is worth nothing. In fact, you are an accident. You
were not meant to be alive. When others are happy, you think it’s fake. There
is no way they are happy because you cannot imagine what happiness looks like
and feels like. When you die, no one, with the exception of few, are really
going to care. You did not accomplish anything, so this idea of pursuing life
is not worth the trouble.
The truth is, you are not doing well. Even if you did lie on
the outside, the truth is sitting in the pit of your stomach like a virus. It
eats away at you, yet you bottle it up and shake it. You hope it will
disappear, but it only grows. What started out as a beautiful rose is now
withering away, as crimson red turns into a dangling, crumbling mess. You are
vomit, spit on a wall and refused to be cleaned. Nobody wants the inside scoop
because the truth is too ugly. What will people think when they find out you
believe you have no purpose?
Have you ever believed this? Some of you have, some of you haven't, and some of you fall somewhere between 'I have' and 'I have not.'
Nobody’s story is the same. However, in everyone’s life,
curveballs have been thrown our way. We have struck out before, and it has not
been pretty. Some of us have gone an entire season striking out, and, once you
make contact with the ball, it does not go anywhere. Although our stories are
all unique and separate from the next person, we all have one thing in common:
our lives are riddled with struggles. No one is perfect, and life has never
been handed out on a silver platter. Yet, despite all of the struggles life
holds, we have one more thing in common:
There’s an individual plan for all of us.
Take Jesus, savior of the world, brutally beaten to save us.
He died the most horrendous death, that, similar to the goodness of the Alpha
and Omega, we cannot imagine how his death went. While the Gospels are all
about Jesus’ life on Earth and death on the cross, it is also about God’s plan
for Jesus. As Jesus lived on Earth, he mentions several times that he is only
executing what the Father (God) commands: "So Jesus explained, ‘I tell you the truth, the Son can do
nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the father doing. Whatever
the Father does, the Son also does” (John 5:19).
At this time, Jesus broke the Sabbath by working on that day,
and the Pharisees were furious. In fact, they wanted Jesus dead because he was
not following the law. However, Jesus does not answer to the Pharisees; he
answers to his Father, who has a plan for him.
Even before Jesus was born, God had a specific plan for him. Matthew 1:23 says, “The virgin (Mary) will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will
call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)”. There is no, “If you want
to name him Immanuel, it’s up for grabs,” or “I want Mary to have a son, but it’s
ok if you’re not ready for it yet.” God is not a ‘maybe’ God. He had a plan for
Jesus, and it was fulfilled because Jesus was commanded to live it out.
God made his plan known to the earthly parents of Jesus, but
it was not just in Jesus’ birth that God was there. Just as Jesus was dying, he
whispered, “‘It is finished.’ With that,
he bowed his head and gave up his spirit” (John 19:30). Jesus knew he had
fulfilled the duties given from God, as God had his plan laid out to Jesus.
Man of Steel is one of the best Hollywood films to use in
this context. Clark, known as Kal-El in Krypton, had a purpose, which his
Kryptonic father knew about long before Clark was born. At one point in the film,
his father encourages his son that he will enter the world and save the people
from being destroyed. Furthermore, Clark’s earth father (Jonathan Kent) knew of
his purpose and plan. “I believe you were sent here for a reason,” Jonathan
says. See, each father knew Clark had a purpose long before the plan was in
motion. Clark, though struggles and obstacles often came his way, had to save
Earth from being eliminated. As Superman faces the reality of his purpose, his
real father encourages him: “You will give people an ideal to strive towards.
They will race behind you, they will stumble, they will fall. But in time, they
will join you in the sun. In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.”
So, as you see your life crumble before you; as you feel the
things you love vanish, remember that God has given you purpose since before
you were born. “‘For I know the plans I have
for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11).
One day, Satan approached God. God, knowing what Satan wanted
to do, offered, “Have you considered my
servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright
man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” God allowed Satan to test
Job. He knew Job would withstand Satan, and when we walk in step with God and
his plan for us, we too can live with purpose and avoid giving in to Satan’s
tricks and schemes.
God has a wonderful plan for all of us; and, to believe the
lie that you do not, well, is the worst lie you will ever believe.