Several years ago, I decided to try my hand at writing for public consumption. Writing had always been a cathartic process for me, and I hoped that my thoughts might also resonate with others.  Over 300 blog posts later, I decided it was time to redefine my direction. After weeks of trial and error and brainstorming, I landed on the theme, “Made To Thrive”. This new direction came out of my own spiritual and relational life. It was also a recurring topic in the lives of people that I have known and worked with. I discovered that the thinking of most Christians falls into one of two broad categories. I have spent time in both camps over the years, and neither has been fully satisfying. The categories are as follows:

1)God wants me to succeed and prosper now.

I recently watched a message by a well-known minister on television. He draws crowds by the thousands and sells books by the millions. His message was on physical health. He said that God wanted us to have good physical health, and if you did the right things and took care of yourself, God would give you the health you desired. It was a tempting message. We all want health for ourselves and our families. We want to succeed at our careers, make more money, and send our children to better schools. The idea that we can control all of that if we do the right things is however, misleading. As the minister continued talking, I thought about a family reeling after their four year-old was diagnosed with leukemia. She hadn’t done anything wrong, or at least no more than any other four year old. If the parents had been watching this minister they would have been forced to believe that their lack of faith had left their  child vulnerable to sickness. I could see how many people when faced with that option or the choice to leave their faith altogether, often choose to abandon their faith. While God does want the best for all people, it doesn’t mean that those with faith can avoid all of life’s tragedies and challenges.

2)The big pay-off comes later.

The other major school of thought in many churches is that life is unpredictable and can sometimes be hard. So, don’t worry about life here on earth. It is what it is.  God’s plan is to give you all of the good stuff later on, namely in heaven. In the meantime, we should just endure the best we can. There are aspects of truth in this view as well, but again it falls short in some key places. If this life doesn’t matter, why are we here?  Is there more to life than simply gritting our teeth and sticking it out? Isn’t the earth more than just heaven’s waiting room?

A third option: we were made to thrive.

Thriving accepts that life will bring both incredible highs and painful lows. We have some control over the direction of our lives, but there are circumstances like disease, tornadoes, relationship betrayals, and thousands of other things that are beyond our ability to control. We are able to thrive however, when we embrace all of life. The ups and downs, the celebrations and the grief. We embrace our newborn children and laugh, we gather at funerals and cry. We celebrate our promotion at work, and fight to begin again when we lose our job.  We weren’t made to simply endure life. We are to embrace it for all it’s worth, because we believe that God is somehow present in every moment of life.

First century church planter Paul, captured the heart of what it means to thrive when he wrote, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” (Philippians 4: 11-12)  Thriving accepts that life isn’t all that it was meant to be, but at the same time God is at work making all things new. The most unexpected and life-altering truth of all is that God wants us to join him in that work. As I thought about a new direction for the blog, I realized that thriving is what I’ve always wanted to do in life, and everything that I’ve tried to teach others. So, as we continue forward together, I hope that the posts you find at michaelramsey.org will encourage you to embrace life for all it is, and to seek to find God is all of it’s moments. Never forget that you were made for something more, you were made to thrive.