God, show me the life You want for me. Help me find a place in the world where I can make a difference for Your kingdom.
It is more or less the "why am I here? / what's my purpose?" question off my own personal prayer list. It's a dangerous prayer, though, because I tend to imagine an answer that would call me away from where I am now: away from my home, my family, my community, and everything else that is current in my life that has been of much comfort. I have wrestled with God about it at times. And yet, this is one of my central prayers this month: why AM I here? (Particularly in the face of all the challenges that are current, as well as those that are looming.)
What strikes me immediately about this prayer today on my church's prayer calendar vs. my own personal prayer checklist is that, while in spirit they are almost the same questions, the approach and the endgame are different. My question, "what's my purpose?" of course is self-centered, both in the now and in the later (i.e. the rest of my life). Even now, I still want to know what the chart will be for the next 50 years of my life, and I want to know it now so I can study it and plan. But that's not my church's version of this prayer. My church's prayer moves the approach from "me" to "the kingdom" which is something larger than me. It's "how can I serve the kingdom?" regardless of what happens to me at any point along the way. Then the endgame moves from this set-in-stone roadmap of comfort and security for the rest of my life, to again the kingdom. It is then about how I serve the kingdom, and what the kingdom gets out of that. Again, regardless of what happens to me at any point along the way. That's the endgame.
For those who are non-Christians reading this, I'm guessing you may be wondering: what the heck is this "kingdom" I'm talking about? The short answer is that I am referring to the kingdom of heaven, where God the Father and Creator of the universe dwells; where Jesus, the Son of God reigns; and where the Holy Spirit, all the company of good angels, and those throughout all of human history who have lived their lives faithful to serving Jesus live. To be transparent, I don't have much more knowledge than that to more fully articulate it. But, I will copy and paste a few Bible verses for you to munch on: (all verses New International Version translation)
Matthew 13:34
The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Matthew 5:3
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:10
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 8:11
I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
More to come.
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