approximately 33 days from graduation, i feel like this is one of those natural times in life when people start to freak out a lil bit. you've studied, networked, prepared for this time where it all pays off in a steady, secure job and position that cements your legacy as a responsible, respectable and contributing member of society.
conversationally, this looks like the graduatee pronouncing their lofty, elaborate plans for either gradschool/further education or a glamorous 50k position with a firm featuring an environment that fosters an attitude of aggressive advancement and the refining of our superior leadership skills.
don't get me wrong, i'm totally fine with going down that path, walking in what the Lord blesses. but so often i see how in my own life and in the life of my peers we have the tendency to find our identity, and self worth, in what we're doing and not in who we are.
in an age marked with heroes marred with character flaws that are completely overshadowed by success, i feel it's imminent that this school of thought will/is leaving us completely overwhelmed far too often on this futile path of satisfying our own skewed perception of success and the achieving to earn a level of respect and approval from others. am i saying that it's wrong to lead a disciplined, well organized and achieving life? absolutely not, that'd be silly. over and over again, scripturally the Lord confirms the idea of leading a disciplined life by using people that live that way. specifically as a man, it's our ordained position and our createdness to work hard, love sacrificially and provide for ourselves, and if we can handle that, a wife and children.
please hear me out, i'm not speaking against ambition. when these desires are honored in a Godly way, good things happen. i desire to speak against how i and culturally we strive to find our identity in what i'll refer to as "broken cisterns."
in the book of jeremiah, israel has been completely disobedient. what i would consider one of the least fun jobs of all time, jeremiah's job is to go to the people and talk about this disobedience. when i see some of israel's character, it's hard because i identify in this rebellious nature. an applicable passage from this scripture comes from chapter 2 and verse 13 when jeremiah brings the heat from the Lord:
"my people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
it pains me to realize that what he's talking about applies just as much, if not more, now to me than it does those cats. everyday, left and right, we look to our performance in class, relationships, work, exercise and pleasure to satisfy our self image. we grab a hold of everything we can in this life and squeeze it like a tube of toothpaste for everything it's worth. too often, we look to creation to satisfy where only the Creator can fulfill us.
we find that while this cup we have may satisfy us for the time, the whole time it's had a leak and that all of our satisfaction has leaked out of the cracks. we're putting an unreal amount of pressure on these objects or people and in the end we find this solution doesn't meet our needs and we find our hope deferred.
i feel like outside of my faith, i would have absolutely no answer to this crisis. i would probably just try and achieve more, find joy in having more things and look to people for meeting my needs. truthfully, i still do that but because of the most amazing thing that ever happened to me, it's not about what i've done.
hebrews 7:25 "therefore he is able to save completely, those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."
our deepest awareness of ourselves has to be that we're completely insufficient but that irregardless of what we've done, we're completely accepted by God because of His Son and what He did on our behalf.
i hope you guys are doing well and enjoying this amazing weather! have a great week, God bless.
-mandy candy
