You Are A Warrior
In this world we are survivors. We survive the weeks, months and years filled with hardships, trials and challenges that this life brings. Some of us survive our upbringing and abusive relationships while others survive the memories of a lost loved one. Some of us survive our own destructive thoughts while others survive the judgements of this world. No matter the reason for our survival, we tend to wear it like a badge. Our survival badge, pinned to our chests, shows and proves to our peers that we have been tested and are still standing. God forbid a light breeze come through and finish us all off, but for now we stand.
I don’t want to merely be a survivor anymore. Have bad things happened? Yes. Will tests and trials continue to come? Yes. But you and I were created to be and do more. We weren’t born to merely survive; I was born to serve Gods people with His truth. I am here to love and serve my family, friends and strangers in a way that glorifies Him.
I’ve had that wrong for a long time. I wanted to be loved the way that I have loved others. I have wanted to be appreciated the way that I have appreciated others. I have wanted to be everything to someone else the way other people have meant everything to me. This seems like a pretty common want for most of us, but living this way with a heart full of expectation has done nothing but left me feeling the opposite of what I am craving.
How did Jesus love and serve others? Without expectation, that’s how. He loved them because he is love. He served them because that is love. I haven’t done that. I’ve played tit for tat for many years, even when I’ve tried not to. Bringing glory to God in the way that I love and serve my family has never been at the center of why I do it. I’ve loved them because they are my family, my blood. I’ve served them because I’m the mom and if I don’t who will. I’ve, unknowingly treated loving and serving them as my duty rather than my privilege and even more an opportunity to bring glory to God.
When I am able to freely give my love to others without conditions or expectations attached I am showing God my love for him by loving the way He loves. When I serve in a way that brings Him the glory I am serving God’s purpose and not my own. I am not anyone’s savior and they are not mine. Wanting someone to love me the way that I want to be loved makes it all about me when really it’s not about me at all. It’s ALL about God. The best part is that when we glorify God, in all that we do, everything else falls into place. Everything else begins to make sense. With a greater purpose behind why we do what we do, we allow His greatness to ensue.
When God is at the center, when He is our reason, then we no longer need to survive, instead we get to fully live, love and serve. We are not merely survivors of this world, we are in fact His WARRIORS; doing His work for His glory and through His grace we get to be better for it.
There is without a doubt a battle taking place in this world and whether or not you know it going into it, you should know coming out of it that you are a warrior. Warriors have scars not as a sign that they survived but as a reminder of the one they endured it for. Warriors just like you and I, have endured suffering in their own right. Christ’s suffering does not minimize ours it brings us to common ground with him. Christ through his suffering was able to bring glory to God and grace to us all. Let him be our example of how to be a warrior of God, brining glory to his name all along the way.
Photo by Miguel Bruna
