One of life’s greatest puzzles comes from
answering the question “What do I want to do with my life?” I know that for some of you, this question
feels more pressing right now than it does for others. But at some point, you will begin to really,
truly ponder that question, and I’ll be honest---it can be a heavy
question. God has given us free will,
which means we get to choose where we go in life and how we use this gift He has
given us. This freedom to choose is both
wonderful and terrible. Since I was a
little girl, I’ve been the “I’ll do it myself” type. Being able to make my own choices has always
been a high priority for me. However,
sometimes I wish that I didn’t have to make my own choices because I worry
about choosing the wrong thing. As I
have pondered my answer to that question---“What do I want to do with my
life?”---I have often wondered if I was making the “right” choices or choosing
the “right” path. Because my life has
taken a sizable number of twists and turns, I have felt, at times, that I must
be on the wrong path. People, in their
attempt to encourage me, have said things like “Keep seeking God’s will for
your life!” which has only made things worse, since phrases like that make it
sound like wherever I am at in that moment is not in the will of God and that
there is a specific set of choices that I need to make in order to be living in
the will of God.
Some of you may already be feeling
the pressure of these same ideas as you start to look toward choosing a college
or career path or think about finding a spouse someday. In my senior English classes, as we’ve
discussed life, I’ve heard many students say things like “What if I choose the
wrong person to marry?” and “How do I know if God wants me at one college over
another?” Underneath these questions is
a very specific follow-up question to that first one I threw out. Immediately after “What do I want to do with
my life?” we ask “And what if I do it wrong?”
Here is what I want to tell you
today: unless you are choosing between a sinful option and a non-sinful option,
you cannot choose wrong. Things like
colleges and spouses and jobs and where to live...all of these choices have
multiple answers and it’s simply up to you to make a choice. There is not just one right way to walk the
path of life, and that path doesn’t have one set of right choices which make
your life a success. God has given each
and every one of you gifts and abilities that He wants you to use for His
kingdom, to bring Him glory. And if you
spend your life worried that you aren’t on the correct path, you will miss the
opportunities He has created along the way for you to put those gifts and
abilities to good use.
There is a well-known set of verses
in Ephesians that, if you grew up Lutheran or went through confirmation or have
ever taken a theology class, you probably had to memorize at some point. Ephesians 2:8-9 says this: “For it is by
grace you have been saved, through faith---and this not from yourselves, it is
a gift of God---not by works, so that no one can boast.” Great verses.
Important message. We cannot do
anything to earn our own salvation, and the faith that we have been given is a
gift from God Himself. But I’ve always
liked the verse that comes after these two.
Ephesians 2:10 says this: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God, in His wisdom, picked out specific good
works for each of us to do in our lifetime.
He prepared in advance to make those good works come about by creating
each of us with certain skills and abilities and by setting each of us into
certain circumstances. Think about
that! You are the way you are for very
specific reasons. Nothing about you is
an accident. The family you were put
into isn’t an accident. The place you
were born isn’t an accident. Even the
time in history you were born isn’t an accident. You are alive here and now because God has
good works that He has prepared for you to do in your life and He has given you
all that you need in order to do those good works.
But here’s the thing---those
opportunities for good works only seem like opportunities if you view your life
as a path full of opportunities. If you
focus on life as a path full of possible wrong choices and continually ask
yourself if you’re on the “right” path, pretty soon, you’re so focused on
watching your own feet and on watching where you’re going that you miss out on
everything around you. Those good works
that God has for you to do will still be accomplished, but your fear of what
might go wrong will squelch out any joy that might come from serving God by
simply being who He created you to be.
This topic is one that is near and
dear to my heart, because, as I mentioned before, my path has taken a bit of a
winding route. I’ll be 34 this coming
weekend, and in the 12 years since I graduated from college, I have lived in 3
states, have held 14 jobs, and have moved 8 times. There have been many, many times that I have looked
around at my life and felt like a failure and like there was no possible way I
was doing the right thing given how bumpy the ride had been. So often, when I have looked toward the
future, I have felt sadness and fear about what might be coming down the
pike. But now that I’ve been walking for
a little bit longer through this life, here’s something that I’ve finally been
able to see clearly---when I look back on where I’ve been, I see how God has
used my winding path to put me exactly where I needed to be at exactly the
right moment. My twists and turns have
brought me to people and places who needed me and the specific set of gifts
that I have. Times when I have felt like
there was no way I was even on a path and must be lost have brought me to situations
where I was able to talk about Jesus and the freedom that comes from knowing
Him. Because that’s the thing,
friends---freedom doesn’t come from being on the “right” path and feeling like
you’re making the “right” life choices.
Freedom comes from knowing that no matter where you are, what your life
looks like, or where your life takes you, Jesus has already taken care of the
hardest part of the journey---He has made it so that you know the ending. Your life path may be a straight line or it
may be full of bends in the road, but your destination has already been
determined because of what Jesus did on the cross. God sent His Son so that you can know without
a doubt that you will spend eternity with Him when this part of your journey is
over. And the Father has given the Holy
Spirit to be with you and to live in your heart and to remind you of what is
true on this side of eternity. What’s
true about life is what God wrote through Paul in Romans 8:28---“And we know
that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been
called according to His purpose.” You
have been called according to His purpose.
God will work for your good no matter what happens in your life. You are not an accident, and your gifts are
meant to be used in your life as you walk the path in front of you. Walk that path with joy, knowing that you are
loved and that you are never alone.
