“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?…”
Matthew 16:26
I visited my family back in New York for two weeks. And what a world of difference.
God is so intentional in the sight He grants us to see a familiar place through unfamiliar lenses, making what we see appear so unfamiliar.
I walked, talked, and dined with good friends I have known and grown to love over the years. But there was a change in me that only God and I knew.
From the conversations I shared with my own brother-in-law, to the conversation I overheard walking to and from the train stations, the chosen, the uninformed, the mislead, we were all bunched up in this place of strive and struggle trying to find a grip on what it is that purpose is supposed to be.
We befriend, fall in love, make love, make babies, work, pay bills, and pray to live to do it all over again the next day, the next week, and maybe the next 20 years. This world really has a hold, a stronghold on so many souls.
If we all knew the royalty that God placed on us, in us, through the blood of His only Son, would we fight so hard to live a life that led to death? Would we strive so hard to earn what’s not ours to keep? Would we yearn and desire for titles that misplaced our real name as sons and daughters of the King?
I saw it first hand for the first time in a very long time, on the hardworking platforms of New York’s glorious subway, the tiredness, the restlessness, the battle to get to that job, that position that they created, that place that requires so much time, effort, and sleeplessness.
I wonder if we ever consider what God really has planned for us as His children.
Do we ever spend the day wondering if God intended on His children to move about, lost without direction? Or tired because of the never-ending, restless journey towards the same dead-end direction?
So many of my friends I see aiming for the next secure job, with all the benefits, as long as they dedicate all the necessary hours and time. Even closer loved ones…
I ask God, why?
Why cant’t ALL His children see that it all means nothing if there is no time to give Him the Maker the glory, honor, and worship?
I asked God why we are so caught up, tangled, and in bondage, over chasing money and things that CANNOT buy us our place in the kingdom!
Why are we living in this world, suffering through the ills of it, forgetting that there is a Mansion, a divine reservation with our name on it?
Why God?! Why can’t we all see that we are only in this world but not of it?!.
His will be done in Jesus name!
In this moment, this destined moment, I lift up a prayer for me, for you, that the Lord of Hosts, in His infinite perfection, redirect our goals, our lives, our minds, our hearts towards Him in Jesus name! May strongholds of this world be broken through the power of the Living God in Jesus name! May deliverance from temptation and destruction permeate through the wounds and souls of God’s children in the name of Jesus! May Purpose, meaning, and promise be reawakened in Jesus name! Amen.