The Greatest of These Is Love

As I near the end of my university years, many of my recent thoughts have surrounded the idea of "purpose" and what that looks like in my life. Missions? 9-5? Grad school? This past summer, while in quarantine, I've made decisions about my future that never came with peace. I wrestled with the open-endedness of my future and waited for some kind of heavenly confirmation on what I was "destined" to pursue. As I pondered what the future had in store for me, I challenged what doors needed to be open in order to make things happen. But in reality, the will of God is quite simple.

Matthew 22:34-39

But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

Oftentimes, I think that I am talentless. That I don't have a gift or a special skill that makes me unique. And maybe if you are reading this, you feel that way too. But I assure you, as I assure myself; the greatest power and privilege you will emanate in your life is your ability to love. Our lives are meant to love - to be loved by God, to give love to God, and to give love onto others.

Tiny rant: Too often do I see on media, "he/she is not 'worth' it," "if they do x, y, and z, they're 'toxic'," or "he/she is cancelled." The reality of our world tells us that our love is finite, that our care is costly, and that our compassion is something only to be given if deemed worthy.

If our God held the equivalent standards while hanging on the cross, you and I would cease to exist.

We must break out of these cycles and extend onto others the grace and love our God pours out onto us every second of our lives. Even when people don't deserve it. And ESPECIALLY when people don't deserve it.

At the end of the day, the most important decisions we face will not be "What career should I pursue?", "Should I take a gap year?", "Will I get into law school?"The most important decisions we face is the daily commitment to love our God and love our neighbor. If we do these things, then we carry freedom in choosing jobs, schools, locations, etc. We ought to move past the perfectionism, the fear, and the journey for perfect fulfillment and just get on with our lives.

We know what we need to do.

We just have to trust that God knows our outcome and that our life will be part of His perfect sovereign plan.

When I read my bible, nowhere do I find the people in the text questioning if they should become engineers, doctors, teachers, where they should live or what crops to plant. In the words of my pastor, "the Bible is a huge long list of people who said yes to loving God."