Drop What You Are Doing

It is good to be pushed beyond what you think your limits are. To strive to be more than what you thought was ever possible. Some have called it “reaching for the stars.” Seeking to attain your hopes and dreams. But is this how God wants His people to live for Him? To make their own plans and strive to achieve what they think they should do?

I will let you in on something. God’s plans for you are far higher, better, and greater than your plans for yourself if you are willing to give up your own dreams for His. Suppose you became eager to drop your nets and follow Jesus. If you yield to His will, He will reward you for your faithfulness.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. Jeremiah 29:11-14

Rarely are God’s plans for your life a part of your dreams. Rarely does He cater to your desires, but He asks you to walk upon His chosen path. So trust His plan by faith, even when you can’t see one step before the other.

His aspirations for you are far more significant, and His plans are more beneficial to the place He wants you to go for the position He has for you in the Kingdom of Heaven. So why don’t you take your hands off the nets you are casting into a fishless sea? Let the Lord Jesus direct where to exert your efforts. Leave everything behind and follow Him? That is what the Disciples did, and they are now pillars among men.

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And He said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Immediately, they left their nets and followed Him. And going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in the boat with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets, and He called them. Immediately, they left the boat and their father and followed Him. Matthew 4:18-22

Did David dream of being anointed as a king? Was it His desire to be chased like a criminal for years, though he was innocent? Did Joseph dream of being mocked and sold into slavery? Was it his desire to go to prison for crimes he didn’t commit and later become second in the kingdom? Did Noah dream of laboring for one hundred years, building an ark while continually mocked by everyone who saw his labor to save humanity? Yet each one became something great in the eyes of God and before men. They would only be ordinary men without following God’s path.

Did Abraham dream of wandering from place to place without a home, not knowing where he was going? Did he desire to take His son up the mountain to slay him as a sacrifice? Did Job dream of losing almost all he had tragically overnight? Was it his wish to be told by his friends that he deserved it because of sins they assumed he committed? Absolutely not! None of them were acting on their dreams or desires. They did not look ahead to goals and personal aspirations, and through their hard work, blood, and sweat attained their objectives.

No, they followed God by faith in the unknown. They toiled and suffered greatly on their journey through life upon the path God had chosen for them. Yet, because of their firm faith in God and His promises, they reaped a bountiful harvest greater than most who have walked this earth. Their rewards are great because their faith in action puts their own desires behind them and God first. They turned from their dreams, and instead of being like everyone else, they denied themselves their selfish wants to follow God’s plan and looked forward to the future God had for them.

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David, and Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, and they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us, they should not be made perfect. Hebrews 11:32-40

They all received a spectacular reward in Heaven. Far beyond any riches or greatness on the earth. So what will you do? Will you continue to walk your own path? Will you stay in the comfort of your desires, doing whatever you can to obtain your dreams? I guarantee you that God’s dream for you is far greater than you could imagine.

Drop your nets and your mending tools. Leave the old leaky boat of human success and visions of grandeur and wealth. Instead, turn your eyes on Jesus, take up your cross, and follow Him. Run after Him with dedication as you have never mustard up before. But know this: fulfilling His dream for your life will be a rough road and a hard struggle. But the eternal rewards will be out of this world.

Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?” Matthew 16:24-26