God's Game Plan For My Life Series

“Super Sized Life” part 2 (God’s amazing plan for my life)

Brian A. Moon

In February 1980, the U.S. Olympic hockey team slipped its foot into a glass slipper and walked away with a gold medal at Lake Placid, New York. Those collegians had shocked the world by upsetting the powerful Soviet team, and then they grabbed the championship from Finland while the crowd chanted, "U.S.A.!" Before his team’s victory over the Soviet Union, which advanced them to the finals, the coach of the U.S. hockey team told his players, "You are born to be a player. You are meant to be here at this time. This is your moment."

That is a great story, but for most of us it is something we have a hard time relating to. While those hockey players might have been born to be players, and meant for that time and moment, we on the other hand are just ordinary people, nobody’s really. Have you ever wondered this question before, Why am I here? Why am I taking up space on this earth, what is the point to life? Feelings of insignificance are something we all are familiar with and tonight I would like to address these feelings.

Mark Twain shortly before his death wrote, "A myriad of men are born; they labor and sweat and struggle;...they squabble and scold and fight; they scramble for little mean advantages over each other; age creeps upon them; infirmities follow; ...those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief. It (the release) comes at last--the only unpoisoned gift earth ever had for them--and they vanish from a world where they were of no consequence,...a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever."

What a sad way to look at life, that we are here for nothing more than death, but that is how many of us live our lives every day. To add to this we are taught in school that we are but mere animals, evolving from lesser creatures and that the material world is all that there is. So now not only am I insignificant, I am also expendable. Life we feel sometimes becomes almost a curse… Is there a purpose to life? Do I have something that makes me valuable and significant? For some they think the answer lies in getting the most stuff. Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says, “He who dies with the most toys wins?” That is the idea here that if we spend our whole life trying to make money and get stuff that when it is all coming to a close and we are old and gray that we will have won in life and found significance. Well, I like this bumper sticker better, “He who dies with the most toys, still dies!” No matter how much material wealth you could ever gain in 5 lifetimes, would ever come close to filling that void for significance and purpose in your life. So where do we turn for answers, does life matter, am I significant and why am I here???

Last week I mentioned that finding our true identity is part of the solution to finding a “Super Sized Life.” Or finding a life that is fun, and fulfilling, one that has significance and purpose, there was a statement Jesus made in the Bible that we looked at and I would like to share it again.

John 10:10 “I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance” Amplified Bible

A life that it is bogged down with feelings of insignificance and lack of purpose does not sound like a life that you can enjoy as it says in that verse.

And a life that has no clue as to why they are here does not sound like a life that is in abundance. All that sounds like is an abundance of misery! So how does Jesus Christ have anything to do with me finding significance, and purpose in life?

Remember back to when you were a little kid playing some game in your neighborhood or at school, lets say kickball, and it is that crucial and anxious time when the teams are being chosen. Everyone is lined up and the two captains are looking people over. You are scared to death because you are wondering if anyone will chose you, and then if you do get chosen when will it come? Will you be the last person picked, the one that nobody wants or will you be the person that the captains fight over to get first pick?

Those are the same feelings we are still facing today in our search for significance and purpose, when will we be picked?

Ephesians 1:4 – 5 “Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.” NLT