Was I Made for More than This?

Raise your hand if you've ever asked this.

Now put your hand down, because it looks odd to raise your hand while looking at the screen.

Were you? Were you made for more than what your typical week includes? Or, were you made pretty much for the life you presently have? Does your life approximate what God specifically designed you for?

I don't ask assuming "yes" or "no" for you. But I want you to think about it. Maybe you've hit that sweet spot of feeling like your "this" is exactly what God made you for. Maybe not.

Be careful of what "more" means, though. "More" does not necessarily mean more money, more recognition, more power, more reach, more of a career, or more toys and experiences. "More" could mean more depth, more honesty, more genuine relationships, more clarity, or more of some other intangible. Whatever the "more" is, do you feel like you were made for it, but aren't experiencing it?

In part, all followers of Christ should feel this. We live in the "Already, But Not Yet" Kingdom, of which we have great foretastes, but not the full measure. We were in fact made for more than this. In Christ, we were made for the full-on, unveiled Kingdom of God. And ideally, we should feel that nagging sense that we were made for more than what we presently experience.

I would also venture a guess that most of us were made for more than what we have of this life, too. What God designed us for, saved us for, equipped us for, and calls us to is almost certainly more than the life we each live today. I say this not to drive to guilt, but to open our eyes that we have not set our sights for our lives as high as God has.

C.S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory:

“It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

However, the "more" in our lives may have absolutely nothing to do with quitting our jobs, going to seminary, becoming missionaries, and living in huts (although it might). "More" may have nothing to do with doing more at your local church (although it might).

But what if "more" meant that what you are presently doing, you are to continue doing, but with more intentionality for the Kingdom of God? The cab driver need not turn in his license and pack for Indonesia. Perhaps he need only to understand that driving a cab can be a very full way of living in the Kingdom of God. Rather than merely collecting fares, the cab driver enables others to thrive in their lives. Perhaps he can provide a positive personality for someone who has had to handle angry customers all day. He might even ask to pray for (or with) a customer who shares some bad news. He can understand that by God's sovereignty, he is put in contact with hundreds of people in a month - people who may never step foot in a church. He can train others to not only drive cabs, but to drive cabs in ways that serve God.

Perhaps you were made for more than this, and perhaps that "more" is that you continue doing what you're doing, but with much more of an idea that you live in the "Already, But Not Yet" Kingdom especially in the work God has for you to do.