Settling for second-best

DAILY BYTE
This week we’re exploring the theme of abundant living. Yesterday I shared the story of a man who took an ocean cruise, but settled for cheese sandwiches instead of the delicious meals that were freely available on board. I suggested that this is often true in the ways in which we live our lives.

It seems crazy that we’d settle for stale, mouldy cheese sarmies when a five star banquet is on offer. And yet, that’s exactly what we do. Instead of living extraordinary lives, there’s a mediocrity that often characterizes our existence. Listen to these words of Eugene Peterson. He writes:
“The puzzle is why so many people live so badly. Not so wickedly but inanely. Not so cruelly, but so stupidly. There is little to admire and less to imitate in the people who are prominent in our culture. We have celebrities but not saints. Famous entertainers amuse a nation of bored insomniacs. Infamous criminals act out the aggressions of timid conformists. Petulant and spoiled athletes play games vicariously for lazy and apathetic spectators. People, aimless and bored, amuse themselves with trivia and trash. Neither the adventure of goodness nor the pursuit of righteousness gets headlines.”

What a telling comment about the ways in which people settle for second best, mediocre lives. In what ways might this be true for you? And why do you think it is so? Is it because you don’t really believe that you deserve the best? Is it because you’re afraid of being disappointed again, and so have lowered your expectations of what your life can be like? Is it because you “know” that you’ll just end up messing-up, so are hesitant to even try? Is it because you’ve been burned and broken by life in ways that have left you feeling bruised and bitter, and so you’re hugely resistant to risk anything that might expose you to being hurt again?

If any of this is true for you, then hear the good news of the gospel. It doesn’t have to be this way! There is another alternative. You don’t have to just go-through-the-motions of living. Your life can be extraordinary! You can be vibrantly alive! You can live in a way that adds to the beauty of the world!

How? Through the grace of God, of course. But more particularly, by allowing God’s dream for your life to begin to shape how you see yourself and your place and purpose in the world.

That will be the focus of our devotions for the rest of this week – God’s dream for our lives. As you prepare to reflect upon that, maybe you’d like to make the prayer below your own.

PRAY-AS-YOU-GO
God of extravagant love and grace. I long for my life to be shaped not by the mediocrities of my past, but rather by the daring dreams that you have for me in your heart. Help me to trust you, and show me the practical ways in which I can co-operate with you. Amen

SCRIPTURE READING
Jeremiah 29:11
‘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.’