Yesterday I received a letter from an inmate who is serving a thirty year sentence. He read my book and wrote to tell me that he was inspired by it, but then told me that although he had tried “everything”, nothing ever seemed to go his way. He just didn’t have a change of life experience like I wrote about in my book and nothing good ever happened to him.
Yesterday a friend from Colorado who is a former state legislator and senator came for a visit. He has a beautiful family, has made millions of dollars, and owns a gorgeous ranch in Colorado. He confided in me that he could not find his purpose in life and although God has blessed him with a wonderful family, accomplishments galore, and material things, something is missing from his life.
He searched for answers throughout his life and first tried a career in business. He succeeded, but it wasn’t enough, so then it was on to politics, but nothing clicked there. He went to Yale divinity school and got an advanced degree at their seminary and was even ordained, but he didn’t do anything with his degree and soon thereafter he returned to the business world. And now as time continues to march on he still doesn’t know what his purpose in life should be and he longs for answers that will give him peace.
Hmmm . . . What do this criminal and my Colorado friend have in common?
I advised the inmate that he needed to fully “surrender” to God and then follow that commitment up with action. I told him that he cannot just offer a token prayer or two to God and expect peace, joy, and unending blessings from our Lord to suddenly blanket his life.
He must fully commit to God and follow Him and not the world. I told him to get a Bible and read it daily, pray ceaselessly, have fellowship with other Christian inmates behind the walls, believe in Jesus Christ, keep the faith, and ask God to take over his life and become fully committed.
In my estimation this guy knows what needs to be done, but he doesn’t want to do it. He’s worried about peer pressure of being viewed as a weak person as a Christian in prison and he is tempted to do the things he has always done and then succumbs to it and follows that old lifestyle that is contrary to God’s plan for his life.
Alas we cannot have it both ways.
I told my buddy from Colorado that God had probably already given him an answer to what he needs to do with his life, but more than likely he just didn’t like it. I doubt God called him to obtain an advanced degree in the Yale divinity school, followed with ordination, only to have him put it on his wall and not use it for the glory of God, and instead go about business as usual in following the world and all of its trappings.
Long before God created the world He thought of both of these gentlemen and put them on this earth to serve His purpose. They were not randomly spawned in some “Darwinesque” procreation accident, but were wonderfully created and given every attribute necessary to achieve great things for the Lord.
It is up to us to fulfill our true destiny, because God gives us all a free will. The closer we come to achieving God’s will for our lives the more peace, joy, and blessings we will experience. This can only happen if we fully surrender to God and put Him above all else in our lives. Jesus gave us the example in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
We want certain things in life, but God wants something diametrically opposite. We must submit to our Savior!
Yikes!
You mean I might not get that big pay check or get invited to all of those power parties? I won’t be able to just play golf, hunt, fish, chase women, drink fine whiskey, worship the sun on the beach, or whatever, but will have to follow Christ and have my friends think I’m some kind of religious nut?
Being in the will of God is not often easy; in fact it is often gnarly! I have a not so well kept secret to tell you about succeeding at it, it takes faith, obedience, and dedication to our Lord, but the rewards cannot be matched and are everlasting.
As for me, I surrendered to Christ and have voluntarily become His slave. I like that.
I just follow Him and don’t worry about anything. He blesses me with undeserved blessings and He does the heavy lifting . . . I don’t mind serving Him at all; in fact I like being His slave . . .
Matt. 6:24
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”