What Will You Be?

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Anticipating the birth of our newest grandchild yesterday, Maxwell Michael Osthimer, my wife and I ordered a children’s book by Naomi Zacharis, the daughter of late Ravi Zacharais. The book is titled, “Little Prince, Little Prince, What Will You Be?” Actually, we ordered two copies, one for both our grandsons as a reminder that they were created by God, fashioned for His glory in love. What my wife and I want all our grandchildren to know is what I pray you know today too, and that is that you are loved by God so much more than you are capable of comprehending and that you too were created by God, for His glory and ultimately what you will become in this life only God knows for certain. Thats why it’s so important to seek Him and to trust Him.

Can you recall how you felt when you first realized just how much you were loved by God and how it made you feel? Read Psalm 139 and try to put yourself in the place of King David when his eyes were opened to the love and care of God for him. Pick it up in verse 13, “13 For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. 17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You.”

There is a plan, a purpose for your existence today. You are alive for a reason and that reason is the glory of God. What my wife and I want our newest grandchild to grow to know is what I pray you know as well, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Little Maxwell’s life, his whole life like yours and mine is completely known to God. The most exciting aspect of parenting or grand parenting for that matter is helping our children connect with their Creator, to discover who they are by discovering who He is. The more I think about it, that’s the greatest joy of being a pastor too!

Long before God ever calls us to do something for Him, He calls for us to know something about Him and that something is that we are loved by God. God’s greatest delight for us will not be in the things we accomplish in this life. God’s greatest delight is when we come to delight in Him. Acts 17:28 captures the thought perfectly when it says, “for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’”

Yes, we have hopes and dreams for our newest addition to our family and what he will be but our greatest joy will be realized one day as Max comes to know Jesus as His personal Savior and Lord. For on that day His eyes will be open to both a person and a path that has already been laid, a narrow road that leads to life and life more abundantly. The challenge Max will face all the days of his life is the pressure to conform to the worlds standards and ways. Our prayer for him is what my prayer is for you today too, that you be transformed by the renewing of your mind so you are able to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God concerning you. What will you be?

‘O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.”

Psalm 139:1-6

I LOVE YOU!