Finding your Way in a Lost World

  One of the life's greatest ongoing challenges is to have the proper sense of direction and purpose for every stage of life. It's not just the young who feel the stress of answering the questions, "So, what do you do?", "Where are you going?", "What's your purpose?", "What are you living for?"
Life is a series of passages and destinations. What we believe to be our ultimate destination is often just a transit station on the way to somewhere else. People are pilgrims. Our journey in life is meant to have guidance and direction that brings an inner sense of completion and satisfaction. Human beings are created by God to walk with him in an amazing adventure of satisfying relationship and accomplishments inspired by love. But why do we get lost so often?
At birth our inner spiritual antenna (our inner person) is broken. We bear an image of our creator marred by original sin (think Adam & Eve). Our whole sense of who we are: our desires, gifting, sense of self etc.. is dependent on the influence of family and friends. Those with stable home influences and friends often develop a healthier understanding of direction and purpose in life. When we are born into chaos we suffer serious consequences. Behind the scenes, God is not absent but working in and out of circumstances to bring us back to himself (redeem us).
We were created with a deep need to know and love God. Our sin (moral failure) has deeply affected our ability to hear God's voice clearly. At times we sense our need for him. Loneliness, depression, fear, anxiety and confusion are often a clarion call that something is not right...something is indeed missing. No one is immune from inner turmoil. The rich suffer equally with the poor from spiritual emptiness and struggle. No matter where we are on the planet, we're searching for our real home.... for a love that can only be fully known in Jesus Christ.
Scripture proclaims our worth and value in stark and striking terms, "For it was you (God) who created my inner person, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well." You are not a mistake. There is nothing random about your life. Both your successes & failures have a purpose...to draw you to the one who created you. Psalm 139 goes on to declare, "Your eyes saw me when I was formless, all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began."
Prayer is meant to be conversational and not an exercise in begging. God put you on the planet and he knows you are in desperate need of his voice and help. But the key to finding direction in a lost world is not primarily based on telling God what you need and desire. The greatest acts of intimacy are always born of listening. Listening implies trust. Listening implies respect. Listening implies rest. And listening allows for love to deepen. It's not about getting what you want anymore. It's all about knowing your lover more. The God of the Bible loves people. Jesus loves you....right now.
Even in the midst of our sin, brokenness, imperfection.... our lostness..... God came.... to bring us back home....with him.
A self centered and self directed life is a very wide and confusing road. It's a crowded and yet lonely road. The way to God is narrow....not because God is narrow.... no far from it. God's road is narrow because it's a two lane path. Room for you and him. He is calling you to walk with him in a unique and meaningful way. He wants to place his arm around you and whisper in your ear, "This is the way, walk with me." Every pilgrim has a unique pathway but the same Savior and God. The tyranny of comparison and jealousy is erased when we finally realize just how profound and precious God's love is. He's crafted a pathway of intimacy for you and him.
Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. If you're lost.... if you're seeking direction, purpose & meaning in this journey we call life....it's time to be still and listen for the voice who will not only make a way for you....... He will be your way in a lost world.

Jim