All this talk of destiny and calling in Christian circles can leave you feeling dizzy about where you are in life. Sure, life shouldn’t be about what makes you feel good all the time. The Gospel is the Good News and not necessarily the “feel-good news.” But if you’re not careful, you can get wrapped up in doing rather than being.
Being is an essential part of your destiny.
I don’t believe you’re supposed to know everything about your calling before you fulfill it. But you should have a sense of where you’re headed. Look at what Paul said in Acts:
And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
Acts 20:22-24, NKJV
Paul was talking about his destiny. He believed he was supposed to go to Jerusalem, and that seemed to be enough for him. He didn’t worry about what would happen when he got there. In fact, Jesus gave us similar instructions:
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6:34, NKJV
Is it wrong to have a vision? No. Is it wrong to want to know more than the next step? No. But if your head is always in the future, you could miss your destiny and calling for today!
Your present is not the enemy of your future. If you think it is, you could be focusing more on doing rather than being. To determine where your focus is, ask yourself what you’re thankful for. In Andrew’s teaching How to Find, Follow, and Fulfill God’s Will, he explains the power of thanksgiving:
If you would go back and start thanking God for your salvation and just think what could have happened if you weren’t born again . . . and you spent eternity in hell. Man, you go to thanking God for that and then you thank Him for all of the opportunities that you’ve got today. You thank Him for your health, you thank Him for your family, you thank Him for the job that you’ve got. . . . Go to thanking Him for the level of prosperity that you have, . . . and you know what, God just gets bigger and bigger and bigger in your way of understanding. And all of a sudden, your problems get littler, smaller and smaller and smaller. Your mind is like a set of binoculars. If you look through the little end and out the big end, it magnifies everything. That’s what thanksgiving does. . . . We need to go to magnifying God with thanksgiving. . . . If you do these things, you will fulfill God’s will. You fail to do this, and you will not fulfill [it]. You might start in that direction, but you’ll never cross the finish line, not as a winner, unless you learn how to be grateful and glorify God.
That just says it all. Being thankful for what God is doing in your life today does not mean you should forsake what He wants to do tomorrow. Instead, it will simply help you be prepared for what He wants to do in your life both now and in the future. The enemy will try to make what’s going on in your life today not seem very remarkable. He’ll have you worrying about things you can’t know right now. But I encourage you to look at your life with a thankful heart. Focus on tomorrow when tomorrow comes, and ask yourself, “What is my calling for today?”
