What is the Point?

This weeks theological musing has been one that I have come back to time and time again, in my own mind and with others in conversation.

The question is:

What is the point of it all?

Or to put it another way, what is my purpose, my calling?

It is something that I find is a particular struggle with young Christians who are trying desperately to find their place in the world. They know that they are not meant to find their meaning in their work or relationships but what does that leave them to do?

I have had many conversations that go something along the lines of this:

"I really want to go and do .......(insert dream here)...... but I don't know if that is the plan that God has for my life. I don't want to do something different from his plan for my life and I am just not sure that this is the right path that he wants me on. What do I do? I really love......(dream)..... but I don't know if I should go for it."

There are so many things that upset me about these statements that I am not really sure where I should begin. 

*Big breath* ok here we go.

Firstly, the God made you. He put your gifts/talents/dreams in your head! He wants you to reach for them. Sometimes they will blow up in your face, sometimes they will take a turn you didn't expect, and sometimes they will go exactly where you wanted. To deny these things is to deny who God made you to be. The people who see what they dream come to fruition are those that try damn hard to make it work, even when it seems impossible. To not do anything out of fear it may be the wrong move means that you will stay still and stagnant and that is NOT what God wants for you.

Secondly, the only real plan that I see in Scripture that can be applicable to everyone's life is that we are to love God and love others. We are to do this in every circumstance in every moment to every person. Whether we are in a crap job that we hate, or not sure what we want to do with life, or if we are retiring and have no idea what that looks like! God's plan for your life is to love him, to love others, and to live out of that love. That's it!!! The rest can be shown by the person he made you to be (see above). If you are living out of your talents and striving for where you want to be and in all of that you are loving him and loving others, then that is the plan! You succeeded! You haven't failed him or his plan for your life! And that is such a freeing thought don't you think?

If you take the stress of trying to take every step on this rigid plan that you don't know and have to figure out then actually life becomes a joy to live and there is such a freedom in living out of love. You want to know why I am so joyful? It was realizing this.

Granted, some people have very specific callings on their life, but if you look at the Bible, those people were NOT the norm, they were a very few specially selected people who were told very clearly what to do (and a lot of the time hated what they were asked to do!). So if you haven't had a burning bush/vision/voice from heaven tell you a specific thing you need to do then actually what he wants is for you to let go of the fear that you aren't living up to his purpose.

Fear is the antithesis (opposite) of love. 

And God loves you.

He created you to love.

If you are afraid of taking the wrong step then ask you two questions:

Will this step mean I can love God more?

Will this step mean I can love others more?

If you answer 'no' to either of those questions then DON'T DO IT.

If you answer 'yes' to both of these, and you have talked with others who you value you the opinion of, then don't be afraid of going for it!

And if it blows up in your face, it may not be God smiting you, it may just be that life happens like that sometimes. None of the people who got famous, like Einstein, got there on their first try.

God loves you. He wants you to live in freedom.

Ask yourself, are you living in fear of doing the wrong thing?

Or are you living in the freedom that God's love brings?