Our pursuit of meaning and purpose in this world has become big business. Go to any bookstore and spend time looking through the "Self-help" aisle and you will find books on how to achieve "Your Best Life Now", how to live a "Purpose Driven Life", and what it takes to get "From Good to Great".Many of these books are written by pastors trying to encourage "ordinary people" to step out of whatever "rut" they may find themselves in and become "extraordinary human beings". While these books may have their place I'm wondering if they do more to perpetuate feelings of discontentment than actually help an individual live a full life in relationship to God within the parameters of their current reality.
We spend time frustrated that we want more out of life in such a way that it pushes us further and further into to future. "When my life reaches a certain point then I will be satisfied". As a culture have we become so future focused that we can only feel despair in the present? In our "future focus" orientation are we missing out on what his happening around us now?
Within the self pursuit of purpose we are not only removed further and further from the present, but we are propelled further and further into a sense of hyper-individualism: "When will I be satisfied?" "How can my life find meaning?"
The Scriptures speak of a God that is continually relating to his people (plural) in the present; trying to shape them in an understanding of what it means to be a people of God in the midst of their current situation (even if that situation seems to lack significance or meaning). What does this mean for those that may be discontent with their present situation? How can one better listen and be shaped by God and find meaning and purpose today?
1 comment:
I don't know; I think maybe we have this need to feel more content every day? But if we were content, would we feel it? And can a person be content and unhappy at the same time?
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