This immediately makes my brain jump to Matthew 6:19-20 “ do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal ; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal”.
I just turned 19 years old, so there I’ve never really had to worry about a 401 k or retirement fund or any of that, but I have definitely had my fair share of experiences where I have had to refocus and realize that the “prize” I’m striving for is not one of this world, but a heavenly one.
Ever since I can remember I have loved school ( except for math) I genuinely love to learn new things, I don’t know why it just excites me, I’ve always done well in academics. I was always in advanced classes, I went to a high school that allowed me to earn my AA degree for free before I even technically had graduated from high school, I had multiple scholarships and grants offered to me when I graduated, not to mention the two years I shaved off my college time.
From a worldly stand point I was on my way to making it big. I had planned my life out already, go to school another 4 ears, get my masters in Mental Health Counseling, work for a church, but do some free lance work on the side and pretty much be set for the rest of my life, regardless of whether or not I married someone with a good job.
In the midst of my planning, and at the end of my senior year, God decided to intervene in my life and put going to Potter’s Field into my heart. But taking a year off would meant I lost my scholarships, lost time and momentum that I would never get back. So I was faced with a hard decision, stay or go? Continue running the race for an earthly reward that I was justifying in my head ( if I work at a church, aren’t I doing the Lord’s will?) or take myself out of the race and join a completely new one?
If I’m being honest, I went back and forth so many times between staying and going, the arguments I had with myself would rival any day time soap opera, but at the end I couldn’t ignore that Call I knew God Himself had placed in my life.
I waited until the very last minute I could, and I called the scholarship office and let them know my plans. I’m sharing this not to boast about me or my accomplishments, because at the end of the day whatever knowledge, opportunities or scholarships I was blessed with I only received by the Grace of the Lord, but to show your my frame of mind at the time, and to highlight that there is a good life, and then there is a better life. The better life won’t always seem appealing or easy, or comfortable, actually for the most part it will never look like that. But we are running a different race, with different rules, and the prize is so much better.
If I had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t have done anything differently, I don’t regret losing the money, or time or momentum because what I gained in exchanged was so much better, I gained the opportunity to live my life and run my race in a way that is genuinely pursuing the prize of Heaven, and an intimacy with Christ that can not be bought, or taught in any university out there.
Application:
i commit to seeking the Lord for 20 minutes tonight on a crossroads decision I have to make, making sure I’m making the best life decision
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