A friend of mine talked about a DIY life. My friend believes in making oneself a success through personal hard effort. This includes getting one's emotions under control, managing relationships and being successful at work. My friend believes that taking the road less travelled (and the harder road at that) will make one stronger in the end.
However, till date, my friend doesn't feel there has been much success or progress. My friend was in the dumps. My friend wanted to know how I managed my life. My simple answer was that I don't. I had recognised some time back how incapable I was at managing my life. I was making a mess of it. I had poor relationships at work, I had some rough patches with my wife and I genenrally was living a life of quiet desperation. Then the Holy Spirit helped me make the most counter-intuitive move: I surrendered control of my life. I surrendered because I had tried it my way and it didn't work. Now I was going to surrender control of my life to God.
It was the best move I ever made. After all, no one knows me better than God. He made me. He knows me better than I know myself. He knows what type of personality I have, he knows my strengths and he definitely knows my weaknesses since he designed me! Once I let God lead and I moved in obedience, things have taken a radical turn. I no longer worry about my career. I no longer worry about who will take care of my family. I love my wife in ways not possible if I were still hogging the throne of my life.
Not worrying about my life doesn't mean I don't have concerns. But whenever I do, I run to my Father, just like my children run to me whenever they encounter problems. But unlike me, my Heavenly Father has perfect knowledge, perfect control and a perfect plan for me. This plan will actually involve hardship and pain. It will involve loss. But it is the best plan for me. (Romans 8:28—"And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, those who are called according to his purpose.") There is much joy and confidence when I rely my Father.
I explained all this to my friend. I hope my friend understood. I know how difficult it can be to understand if one has not experienced the joy of letting God take charge. My friend claimed to be not into spiritual things. But I left this challenge for my friend to think about:
Why are we here? What is the point in life?
Figure out the answer to that question and life makes a whole lot more sense and we can have purpose and meaning. For me, the answer was this:
God created me to have a loving relationship with him in order that his glory be displayed through my life. When I fulfill my purpose of treasuring him with my whole life, I get the joy and he gets the glory. I was made for this. To not do this would be a waste of my life.
It would be like using a silver spoon to dig a trench. Can the spoon be used that way? Sure, but it would ruin the spoon and the spoon will hate every minute of it. The spoon was made for a higher purpose. We too are like a silver spoon. We were made for a higher purpose rather than just the drudgery of living life and then dying. We were made to enjoy a deep and joyful relationship with God.
