Living, Not Waiting

Last night my friend Josh and I went to a worship service at Calvary Chapel. I really enjoyed the message there, especially the passage of scripture used. What I wanna touch on is a slightly different message than what the pastor there was speaking on, but this is what I gathered from this passage.

Jeremiah 29:4-7

"4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit. 6 Take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters—that you may be increased there, and not diminished. 7 And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace."

In case you're not aware of the history going on here, Israel has been delivered into captivity in Babylon. The Lord is going to leave them there in captivity for 70 years, but many of the Israelites are living as if the Lord is going to rescue them from Babylon soon, so they are waiting. God then sends words to them through His prophet, Jeremiah, that He will not deliver them soon, but that they will stay there for 70 years. God is telling His people to stop sitting around and waiting to be delivered, but rather to live there lives and prosper where they are.

A lot of times I feel like I'm in the same position that Israel is in here. Life can sometimes seem like a waiting game, just waiting on our plans to finally work out. We say well after high school THEN I'll do this, then after college I'll do this, and so on and so forth. And i get it in my head that in order to accomplish God's will, I first have to wait it out. I believe that God's message to His people here is to not sit around and wait. That is not why He has placed them where they are.

Wherever we may be in life, God has a will for us THERE. His will for us is not tomorrow, or five years from now, it is always in the present, no matter what stage of life we may be in. So many times I get caught up in thinking about "What does God want me to do with my life?" or "Where am I gonna end up?" and the truth is that that isn't the point. It is not my place to know the future, or to wait for the future simply to happen. I need to be living my life within God's will daily, wherever I may be.

So, I encourage you all today to stop waiting for your future, waiting to fulfill your purpose. You don't have a specific place you have to reach to begin living it, you can do it today. Right now. God does not place His people places for them to lie dormant. The Body of Christ is a living, breathing, and moving thing. Each one of us has a purpose NOW. Don't wait, live.