They Were Meant To Be

Sing these words in your heart about all the people God has placed in your life.  His desire is that we value the preciousness of each soul that He created. And pray that He would use you to lead many more people to know Jesus Christ so that each life would bring glory to its Creator!

MEANT TO BE
by Steven Curtis Chapman
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Long before you drew your first breath
A dream was coming true

God wanted to give a gift to the world
So he wrapped it up in you

Every step that you’ve taken
Every move that you make
Is part of his plan

You were meant to be touching
The lives that you touch

And meant to be here
Making this world so much more
Than it would be without you in it

You were meant to be bringing
The gifts that you bring
And singing the songs
You’ve been given to sing

You are perfectly, wonderfully,
Beautifully meant to be
You were meant to be

Long before you took your first fall
You stumbled to the ground
God started telling the story of you to the angles around
Every failure and victory
Everything in between
Its all in his hand

You were meant to be touching
The lives that you touch
And meant to be here
Making this world so much more
Than it would be without you in it

You were meant to be bringing
The gifts that you bring

And singing the songs
You’ve been given to sing

You are perfectly, wonderfully,
Beautifully meant to be
You were meant to be (yeah)
Meant to be
You are
You are
You are meant to be
You are
You are
You are meant to be

For every breath that your taking
And every move that you make
It’s a meaningful life you’ve been given
Live it well

You were meant to be touching
The lives that you touch
And meant to be here
Making this world so much more
Than it would be without you in it

You were meant to be bringing
The gifts that you bring
And singing the songs
You’ve been given to sing

You are perfectly, wonderfully,
Beautifully meant to be (yeah)
You were meant to be (yeah)
You were meant to be (yeah)
You were meant to be
To be
You were meant to be

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True Freedom on the Fourth

Growing up in America means that on the Fourth of July we enjoy celebrating the day with fireworks, parades, parties, very creative displays of red, white, and blue food, and time to relax with friends.  I love all of those things, and have a collection of memories from years past of how we spent the day with many wonderful people.

But the word freedom makes me think of something much deeper, and really has nothing to do with the United States of America.  My most cherished thoughts of freedom are wrapped up in what Jesus Christ has done for me.  It  happened over 27 years ago, but I can still remember what it felt like to feel freedom from my sins for the first time. You can read a longer version of it here, but the short version is that I came to experience this: 

"For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." (Colossians 1:13, 14)

The idea of freedom must involve a rescue from something, a deliverance from some oppression, or danger. It is exactly why Jesus came to earth. He came to set captives free from a life of slavery to sin.  He is the one way out of that slavery. He offers that deliverance to everyone who will come to Him, putting all their hope in who He is and what He has done.

I am extremely thankful for the blessings of national freedom that we enjoy in our country. But the spiritual freedom that I have found in Jesus makes me pray that God will do something even more amazing in America than continue the legacy we have of national peace and prosperity.  I'm praying that He will set people free from their slavery to sin, deliver them from the spiritual death that sin brings, and that many will come to embrace Jesus Christ as the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE.  

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That Demanding Little Word

So, I was enjoying a casual reading of Philippians 2 when this verse, (especially one word in it), grabbed my attention:

"Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;" (Philippians 2:3)

Nothing?!?   Wait!  What??  Not even one, single thing?!

Nothing! What a demanding little word!  "Nothing" calls me to refuse all my natural inclinations to sinfully think of myself first. It also requires that I stop acting from a heart of pride, and treating people in any way that says, "I am more important than you are."  It makes me throw away every reason why I feel justified in my "me" moment.

This passage is actually a familiar one, and so is my struggle with selfishness and pride. I have been a Christian for a long time now, but those two sinful traits are deeply woven into the fiber of every human being, and I am well aware that I didn't turn out to be the exception. But we "grown-up" believers have progressed to the point that sometimes our struggle is better behaved and mostly happens on the inside. But, yes, I still have times of struggle to humble myself and consider others as more important than myself. Why? Well,  in my moment of pride and selfishness, I choose to not believe that Christ can be trusted to give me everything I need and be everything that is truly satisfying to my soul.  So I position myself to to look out for my own best interests, to manipulate circumstances, or react negatively when it doesn't go the way I want it.  My pursuit of happiness at the expense of others flies in the face of God's ability, desire, and commitment to take care of me.

Praise God that the rest of Philippians 2 is just the medicine for my proud and selfish heart. A portrait of Jesus emerges, the perfect picture of humility, and the epitome of sacrificial selflessness.  My entitlement mentality begins to die when I look to Jesus. See what He did. Be changed by the fact that His unselfish humility was for me.

"Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  (Phil. 2:5-11)  

Jesus rightly commands us to live in unselfish humility towards others, because that is exactly how He has treated us. Such humility displayed! He laid aside His glory in heaven, took the lowly form of a man, and continued to walk the path of humility and sacrifice all the way to the cross. He did that for me and you.

That vision of unfathomable love makes the sacrifices involved with loving people on the horizontal level seem really small.    

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"Wisdom without power would be pathetic, a broken reed; power without wisdom would be merely frightening; but in God boundless wisdom and endless power are united, and this makes him utterly worthy of our fullest trust."  -Packer in "Knowing God"

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"I have come as light into the world, that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness." -Jesus

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God "blesses those on whom he sets his love in a way that humbles them, so that all the glory may be his alone."      -J.I. Packer in "Knowing God"

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Humility = Prayer

Pride looks back at the past and complains. It's like saying, "God, I could've done it better!" Pride looks forward to the future and worries. It's like saying, "God, I'm not sure I can trust you to do it right next time."  The best way to repent of pride is to humble yourself and pray. 

"...and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." 

(Just remembering a convicting sermon Brian preached once from 1 Peter 5:5-7)

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