#32- How Can I Secure My Future?

by Cory MacNeil

If you're like most people right now, you're beginning to wonder if Spring will ever come again.  This winter in the Northeast has been one for the books and it's taken it's toll on many.  If you're not careful, you can get to the point where you think nothing's ever going to change.  But that's not the voice of God talking to you.  Left unchecked, your hopelessness can infect not just your immediate future but your destiny.  What if one realization could change all of that?

In the bible, we learn that our futures are anything but bleak!  The book of Genesis begins in a garden and in the book of Revelation we find out there is a city beyond our wildest dreams.  Not the kind of city we're familiar with- a place of poverty, ruin and despair- but a place where there is order and beauty and great joy!  Not only that, but Jesus is there and will wipe away every tear.  Yes, there is ruin in this lifetime, but there is also redemption and restoration.  The world is a mess, but Sunday is coming!

If you're not careful, you can long for this kind of world to the point that you become inactive in this one.  When you do, you miss out on the opportunity to be a light to the people who are in darkness here.  The people who especially pay the price for our lack of presence are the ones we care for the most.

So what is the key?

The key is to reexamine your beliefs.  Do you believe there is someone larger than you who has your best interests in mind and they are drawing you to themselves?  Or do you believe it's all in your control?  Jesus frequently used the image of fishermen who used nets.  Peter, James and John were this type of fisherman.  When Jesus first encountered them, they were mending their nets.  Jesus told them if they followed him, he would make them fishers of men.

Today if you've been captured in the net of God's love, I want to remind you that you have a brighter future than you could ever imagine or believe.  What if your only requirement was to trust.  Stop flopping around in the net and let a power bigger than you haul you to shore.  

Common thinking tells us to resist power outside of ourselves.  We'd rather fight or flee than rest and see.  

So what impact is your future having on you today?  Is it strong and powerful?  Are you confident it has the strength and ability to reel you in or are you hopeless and just floating around in the flotsam and jetsam?  

What if you started viewing the brightness of your future in such a way that you ran towards it?  To know God is to love God.  So do you know Him?  If so, how well.  Maybe part of the reason you're not to excited about what lays in store is because you don't know Him all that well and the plan He has for you.

Paul said to the believers in Thessalonica: "It is clear to us, friends, that God not only loves you very much but also has put his hand on you for something special."

Maybe it's time you traded in your version of your story and started believing God's version of your story.  Your story is a jewel embedded in His story.  Just imagine, in His story you are a trophy beyond compare....so much so that He brags about you!  Catch a glimpse of that kind of future and you'll run for it!