Today I stand in awe as I consider what an amazing life can be lived when we are fully submitted to the Spirit of the Living God. We are given perfect peace, full joy, and abundant life. We have complete access to the throne of grace for help in our time of need and, through the power of the Spirit, nothing is impossible for those who believe!
When we choose to follow the Spirit, adventures abound. Miracles happen. Lives are changed. We see the impossible.
Life is composed of two things I like to call big moments and small moments. Big moments are the times in life when we have a significant event. Sometimes we know when a big moment will happen, like a graduation, a wedding, or an upcoming trip. But big moments can also be spontaneous: the times that we experience the impossible, when life is a grand adventure, when God seems so real. Big moments are full of excitement, give us a story to tell, and often mark a transition from one season to another.
Small moments are everything in between. These are the seemingly unexciting parts of our lives in which we suffer through mundane, day-to-day tasks. It is very likely that you are reading this post right now in a small moment. Life isn’t what you would call an adventure. A miracle isn’t happening right in front of you. It’s just an average day.
So much has changed since my last post. I have graduated high school. God has supplied over 50% of my financial goal. And I am in the middle of my month long stay in the Eurasian country of Georgia. A lot of BIG moments.
As I look back on how much fun I have had and am having in these big moments and how the Spirit is working through me here in Tbilisi, Georgia, God has been pointing out some of my mistakes. I have been forgetting to see God in the small moments because I was spending all of my time looking forward to future events. I went to school everyday just to be closer to the greatness that would be graduation. After graduation, I just wanted to leave for Georgia so I could walk in the Spirit there. Even today, it is so easy for me to live in expectation of what the Spirit will do during my time in Thailand, South Africa, and Nicaragua, without expecting things from Him now.
God has shown me that I have lived most of my life like this: so excited to live my future that I forgot to live today well. I was so busy waiting for the next grand adventure in which I imagined Jesus would seem so real, that I neglected to be faithful in the place in which I was living. We can become so preoccupied with how we will live in the future, that we neglect to live in the present.
So many of us spend a large portion of our lives sitting around daydreaming about the adventure in our next mission trip, summer camp, or travel plans. We long for excitement, thinking that it will only come in the future.
We should certainly be excited about what God is going to do in the future in our lives. He is the God of adventure, miracles, and life-changing events. But He is also the God of the small moments. Jesus is concerned with every second of our lives: important and unimportant, present and future.
We don’t have to wait for a big moment tomorrow to experience the joy, peace, and love of Heaven. Expect God to do the impossible here and now. Expect an adventure in this moment. There is adventure raging all around us. Don’t miss a present adventure because you are too busy looking forward to a future one. Not everyday is an adventure. But everyday could be.
Big moments are both composed of and surrounded by millions of small moments.
If we don’t live the small moments we are in right now well, we cannot expect to get everything we could out of future big moments. Big moments are simply composed of small moments in which we have grabbed hold of adventure and Jesus Christ.
Let us not live our small moments just to get us one day closer to a big moment. Life is in the small moments because they train us for the big. If we are not being faithful in our current small moment, what makes us think that we will be faithful in our next big one? If I am not following the Spirit right now, why do I think that I will listen to Him tomorrow? If I am not willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the Kingdom in America, I cannot expect myself to sacrifice overseas.
We cannot impact our future by expectation alone. But we can impact our future by present faithfulness.
The World Race is going to be an amazing experience. But I can’t expect myself to fully walk in the Spirit then if I am not walking with Him now. The Spirit is not confined to countries, or mission trips, or even miracles. He is with me now. I can choose Him in this small moment.
Don’t live in the future anymore. Find Christ where you are. Ask God to show you the adventures raging all around you. Train yourself to walk in the Spirit today. For me, the World Race starts now.
“Wherever you are, be all there.” Jim Elliot
