Serving Christ for His Eternal Purposes

This past Sunday I listened to a pastor share a message entitled “Serving Christ in the Light of Eternity.”  This message was shared since the church was sending their long time Assistant Pastor to another sister church to serve as the lead pastor. 

Two key points of the message that brought understanding to me regarding my recent transition included:

1. Human hearts have a longing for permanence.  This longing is strained by change, by growth, by separation, and most critically death.
2. We must say goodbye to an old season in order to see a new season come.  Or, better stated: must give up in order to go up.

I must admit that I longed for the stability and permanence that I felt living in Northern New York when the Lord called me to move to Texas last year.  Life was good for me in NY.  I was a member of and serving in a wonderful local church.  I was near family. I owned a home nestled in 20 acres of woods. I had a wonderful network of friends.  Yes, life was good for me and I couldn’t imagine it being better.  What I discovered, is that it could be better, but I had to say goodbye to the old in order for the new to come.

Saying goodbye to the old was a challenge.  I can see where the transition started a few months earlier before the Lord even spoke to me about moving to Texas.  God showed me that their were things that I had to let go of: wrong thinking; material possessions that would hindered my progress forward; relationships that were unhealthy; and things that I loved doing.  It was a slow process of letting go of these things, but I can see now that it was necessary in order to serve God in the capacity that He has called me to do.

Yes, I am in new season and it is better than what I could possibly imagine.  For once, I know and truly feel that I am doing what God created me to do.  I’m so thankful that I released my longing for permanency and let go of the old to experience the new.  There is truly no better place to be than this – serving Christ for His eternal purposes.