How often do we catch ourselves whiling our time away mulling over the what-ifs and might-have-beens in our lives? Career ventures that did not materialise, relationships that were not meant to be, opportunities past…choices made at a point in time that result in life-altering decisions. Box-office movies such as “Sliding Doors” and “Run, Lola, Run”, go a step further in encouraging us to ponder the impact of seemingly inconsequential actions upon our lives. In “Sliding Doors”, the flight of fantasy sees the protagonist experience two completely different versions of life by sheer dint of whether or not she catches a train. Likewise at times, we may subconsciously toy with ideas of how differently we might be living if certain decisions or events in our lives had taken on another course…
The will of God
However, as Christians, we must guard against these thoughts, as they are what the concept of fate and chance is built upon. Believing on the Lord Jesus means trusting God’s sovereign control in every single aspect of our lives. Our perfect, omniscient Creator does not leave anything in the hands of the capricious nature of fate and chance but on the contrary, makes sure that “all things work for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.”
Bearing in mind this reassurance we have, as missionary to Ecuador Jim Elliot puts it succinctly in one of his life maxims: “Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.” With this focus in place, and an unquenchable passion for the life given us, we will find it easier to be joyful and confident in whatever circumstances God places us in. And by not doubting that it is nothing less than His perfect plan and purpose – not for our personal gain, but for His and His alone, we make ourselves more mouldable in His hands and more adept for His use.
That I may know Him
In the light of the knowledge of God, past disappointments and present heartbreaks don’t matter, although the plain fact is that to most of us, they do. Paul, in Philippians 3:8 wrote, “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” As such, when we place such vain thinking beside the glories of knowing Christ – not simply intellectually, but experientially and personally – they become not just worthless, but detestable as they pale in comparison to the marvellous work He is doing in us, in whatever station He has placed us in life for His greatest glory.
“If I look back longingly upon what used to be,
and linger among the byways of memory,
so that my power to help is weakened,
then I know nothing of Calvary love.”
- Amy Carmichael, “If”
Let us be careful not to fall into the temptation of wallowing in regret or slipping into bitterness and gloom as we brood on the might-have-beens, but instead, see opportunities to draw strength from our Father and lean wholly on Him. Part of knowing God is not thinking of things we have missed, only of what we have gained.
All for Christ
Like Paul, do we have the desire to lay our all on the altar of sacrifice so “…that [we] may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death”? How are we ensuring that we are living out the purposes of our Lord in where He has placed us?
May we all in His mercy, be able make it our sincere prayer that our unwavering priority would be to know Him as beautifully expressed by the songwriter of this old hymn,
We have not known Thee as we ought,
Nor learned Thy wisdom, grace, and power;
The things of earth have filled our thought,
And trifles of the passing hour.
Lord, give us light Thy truth to see,
And make us wise in knowing Thee.
- Thomas B. Pollock -
