Living Large
“Jabez
cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge
my territory!”
1 Chronicles 4:10
Many
people believe that touching the lives of others can be done only by some elite
group of specially gifted people. But that’s not the case. Any ordinary person can make a positive
impact on the lives of others. Some unsuccessful people tell themselves that as
soon as they achieve considerable success or discover some unseen talent, they
will turn their attention to making a difference in the lives of others. But there is good news…God wants to raise the
bar and take us to a higher level.
Many
have related the idea that life has little meaning until we make a difference
in the lives of others.
Jackie Robinson said, “A life isn’t significant except for its
impact on other lives.”
Dennis Waitley added, “The greatest achievements are those that
benefit others.”
Zig Zigler confirmed, “You can get everything you want in life if
you help enough people get what they want.”
In
Bruce Wilkinson’s book, The Prayer of Jabez, he refers to the
prayer of an obscure Old Testament character named Jabez. In 1 Chronicles 4:10, he says
in v. 10, “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel,
"Oh, that you would bless me and
enlarge my territory!” Wilkinson writes, “In Jabez’s time part of Israel’s recent national history
was Joshua’s conquest of Canaan and the
partitioning of the Promised Land into chunks of real estate for each
tribe. When Jabez cried out to God,
“Enlarge my territory!” he was looking at his present circumstances and
concluding, “Surely I was born for more than this!”
Wilkinson
goes on to say in his book, “No matter what your vocation, the highest form of
Jabez’s prayer for more territory might sound something like:
“O God and King, please expand my opportunities and my impact in such a
way that I touch more lives for your glory.
Let me do more for you!”
Enlargement
of territory spoke of several things:
1. Activity
(In Bible
days, people were either conquering or being
conquered which speaks of the activity in which he was
currently involved)
2. Blessing (Enjoying life versus life being miserable)
- Change (Most importantly, God wants to use what we have to influence others)
When
we use it correctly and for His glory…He will give more. Not for our own purposes but rather that our
lives might impact others. As Jesus
speaks in the New Testament, “He who is faithful in little things will be given
more.”
Harold
Kushner wrote, “Our souls are not hungry
for fame, comfort, wealth, or power.
Those rewards create almost as many problems as they solve.
Our souls are hungry for meaning, for the sense that we have figured out
how to live so that our lives matter, so that the world will at least be a
little bit different for our having passed through it.”
Most
people have never heard about Sister Frances Cabrini. In March, 1889, she got off the boat at Ellis Island focused on the task of helping to establish
an orphanage, school, and convent in New
York City. She
wasn’t preoccupied with any of the problems of the past. Much like Jabez, she had a difficult
past. She was the sickliest child in her
village, and when she grew up people mocked her. At the age of 6, she decided she wanted to
become a missionary to China. At 12, she
took a vow of chastity and at 18, applied to join the Daughters of the Sacred
Heart Convent. But she was rejected
because she was too sickly. Rejection
wasn’t going to make her give up her dreams of ministering in Asia. After finally being received into the order,
her parents died.
She experienced further difficulties. She was not allowed to go to Asia. She had to
teach where she was. She founded her own
mission. Over the next twenty- eight
years after arriving in America, she dedicated herself to ministering to people
in America. By the time she died in 1917
at age sixty seven, she had founded more than 70 hospitals, schools, and
orphanages in the United
States, Spain, France, England, and South
America. She would never
have made that impact if she did not have the determination to ask God to give
her influence.
If we
were to ask people, “What would you love your life to look like?” we’d probably
get all kinds of answers. If we’re
honest this morning, most of us attempt the same thing in life. We try to live our lives in order to grow
more happy and comfortable.
Unfortunately, what we think is the recipe for satisfaction is usually
something far less. God doesn’t always have the same things in mind for us. He wants to enlarge us so that we can enlarge
the lives of others which brings meaning to our hearts. Now that’s what I call “Living Large.”
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) What do you
perceive your life is missing that would make you more
fulfilled?
2) How does God
want to make a difference through your life today?
Consider reading the Word today;
Copyright 2014- Terry
Risser
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