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The Starting Place
January 30, 2006 

If you are looking at a map trying to find out how to get to a certain place, you know that you need to start from where?  From wherever you are right?  If you try to start from anywhere else other than where you are then you'll never be able to get there.   Even though we know this when it comes to physical geography, we don't always understand that principle as it pertains to our lives and our futures.

When it comes to living the rest of your life, the starting place is wherever you are right now.  You don't need to get somewhere first before you can start living, or start living right.  I think what happens is that people think God is "over there" somewhere, at a different place. Maybe not just God Himself, but the answer to your problem or the start of your "life's purpose" or the start of some thing you want God to do for you. So you think you have to get "there" before this thing will happen. 

For some reason, we convince ourselves that our life isn't really "right" the way it is right now and we think something needs to change before we can really start fulfilling our purpose.  It could be that you think you need your kids to grow up, or to get a new job, or to move to a new place or to get married or to get bills paid off etc. etc.  But the truth is that if God waited until we were perfect before He did anything with our lives it would never happen.  We're not able to 'get it all together' on our own.  That's why we need Him!  And He's willing to help us get started.  But when you think that He can't do anything with your life the way it is now you might respond in a couple of different ways.

1. You might try and 'get there' by putting all of your own effort, good works, ambition etc. into getting to this imaginary starting place.  But you can't ever do it.
2. You realize you can't get there on your own so you sit and wait for God to do some  big miracle to transport you to that place.  In the meantime, life seems to be passing you by.

The problem with both of these attitudes is that you think that the 'starting place' to the rest of your life is somewhere other than where you are right now. For some reason you think that God can't do anything good with your life the way it is right now.  But the truth is that you can't change where you are right now. You may not be happy with where you are and you might wish you were somewhere else. You might not be happy with your finances, your job, your spouse, your children, your schedule, your church, your health etc. And you may be thinking that if God would just do this one miracle in your situation then you could finally start living like you should be living. So you don't live like you should be now. What I mean by that is that you are not following the Lord in the way that you think you would like to because you've realized you just can't do it on your own and you're waiting for God to do it for you. As a result, you never start really living and enjoying your life because you're waiting until a certain something happens.  You don't ever reap the results of godly living because you know you can't do it so you don't even try.  

And you're right about one thing--you can't do it, not perfectly.  That's why God has made a way for forgiveness.  But that doesn't mean that He doesn't want us to do what we can and ask Him to help us.

On the other hand, you may be struggling and trying so hard to do everything right hoping that eventually you'll get to a place where God will finally say, 'that's enough' and then He will do something for you that will instantly solve everything. But in the meantime your life now is burdensome and frustrating.  If you're the kind of person that beats yourself up for everything you do wrong the answer is still to ask for His forgiveness, learn to forgive yourself and move on.

So whether you are not trying at all or trying too hard, don't overlook the fact that God will always meet you where you are. The starting place is right here right now. You just need to invite Him here, and ask Him to help you. You just need to make the choice to do it His way and to go through what you need to go through instead of resisting and fighting and struggling against what He's trying to show you. He doesn't want you to try and do it in your own strength but He does want you to do it!  He's not saying you have to come to a certain place before He will help you. He wants to help you do it, but He won't do it for you.

Sometimes we don't realize that God is trying to show us something for our own good because He's trying to get us out of this big problem we have. We don't make the connection. We don't think that our spending habits, for example, have anything to do with us being able to get on with our purpose in life. Just trust that the convictions God is putting on your heart now are for your own good. He's trying to bring you to a better place but you need to follow the path He's chosen in order to get there. There may be some obstacles on that path that you don't like but once you learn to overcome those obstacles the path begins to become brighter and brighter!

"But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18

As you walk on the path that God has put in front of you, and start from where you are instead of wishing you were somewhere else, then each step will become brighter and brighter. Your life will increase in peace and joy. No, it won't always be easy, but it will always lead closer to Him and closer to your destiny.  And that makes it worth it!

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