July 7, 2012

Settlin'

Having this past Wednesday off for our Independence Day holiday, I thought it would be fun to get my kids out to do some fishing. The night before, I picked up a bucket full of crickets - I do not believe you can find a better bait for active bluegill and happy children than lively crickets! Thinking positively about the next day's fishing, I also picked up a dozen night crawlers in case we were to run out of our primary bait. I decided to put the bucket of crickets in the garage for the night out of the heat. Wednesday morning I went to check on the status of the crickets, and found that I only had a handful of crickets remaining in the homemade bucket and only a couple of those were alive. Obviously, my cricket cage has a hole in it, and I am finding crickets every time I open the garage door! Well, we were forced to settle for using our secondary bait Wednesday evening, and the kids wound up getting only a few bites. I believe it was a far cry from what we could have done if we had been able to use the primary bait of choice.

In a similar way, we often do not experience God's best for us because we either actively or passively settle for second best. I have heard it said that as long as we can live with less than God’s best, we will do just that, and that we have to get sick and tired of settling before we will aggressively pursue God’s best. Many of us are very familiar with God's promise in Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV), where He says "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." And reading that, we often sit back and wait for God to drop His best in our laps while we continue to go through the motions living less than connected lives. However, the two verses that follow God's promise are equally important and the key to us receiving God's best. The Message says it like this, "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. When you come looking for me, you'll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed. I'll turn things around for you." The key element in this promise is that we must seek God with ALL our hearts.

What in your life do you pursue with all your heart? God has made it clear to me that my life ultimately boils down to giving my all in my relationships with Him and with those around me. However, I can easily get lost in the monotony of daily routines and schedules, moving through my days on 'auto pilot', and as a result, I often miss opportunities to be impacted and to make an impact in others' lives. And in doing so, I settle for mediocrity and for second best in my relationships with God, family, loved ones, and community. Today, I encourage you to no longer settle for less than God's best in any aspect of your lives, but to begin to seek after God with ALL your heart, wanting it more than anything else. - GE

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