Made for More

Do you remember what you wanted to be when you grew up? When you ask five year olds, they always talk about becoming someone who they think will make a difference. They choose jobs that are significant, in their minds at least. Doctors & Nurses, Police Officers, Astronauts, Professional Athletes. When we’re young we just assume we’ll end up doing something that matters, that our lives will be meaningful and influential. We never really lose that longing for success and significance, but in reality our daily lives don’t always feel like we have a purpose that matters.

We know we’ve been made for more; more than the stuff money can buy; more than the pleasure that a moment offers; more than the excitement of being insta famous; more than the comfort and security of wealth. At the heart of the Bible’s message we find a simple truth. You were made for more. Your life matters because God decided to bring you into being. Whatever you’re going through right now, you exist for a purpose - a purpose that can only be found by discovering more of God’s plan for your life.

But sometimes the greatest barrier to us discovering our purpose is our own thinking. If we listen to the inner-voice of self-doubt and unworthiness we end up disqualifying ourselves from God’s calling. We step back from the things God wants us to embrace, we let fear and rationalisations smother our faith. We end up believing the lie that God uses other people, but not us.

Believing My Calling

The story of Peter is so encouraging, because in Luke’s Gospel we discover that he had to deal with this exact struggle. Simon (Jesus changed his name to Peter a bit later on) grew up about 30km from where Jesus grew up - they might have known each other when they were younger. Simon was definitely there when Jesus preached at his local synagogue in Capernaum for the first time. He saw Jesus cast out a demon, and then Jesus ended up at his house for lunch. While Jesus was there, he healed Simon’s mother-in-law, not a bad thanks for the hospitality. And that evening, in the same house, crowds turned up and Simon got a front row seat to Jesus’ miracles and exorcisms.

The next thing we read about is Jesus again inviting himself into Simon’s world. A crowd has turned up by the lake to listen to Jesus, and where does Jesus decide to preach? He conveniently chooses a spot where Simon’s fishing boat happens to be. In fact he gets into Simon’s boat and asks him to move a little off shore so the crowd will settle and listen. Once again, Simon finds himself front and centre as Jesus ministers to the crowd.

By the time Jesus finishes speaking, Simon must have been so ready to just go home and sleep. He’s been working all night without catching a thing, and there’s a hint of frustration when he explains to Jesus that there’s not much point heading back out to try again for a catch. But Jesus knows the future and the plan that God has for Simon. Simon thinks he’s just a spectator, he can’t even imagine the purpose that God is about to unlock in his life. In his own mind, he’s just a fisherman who happens to be around a man of God, nothing more. Whatever God is going to do, it’ll be through other people.

Of course, the miraculous catch occurs and the rest is history. At first Simon admits that he doesn’t feel worthy of his calling, he can’t understand why Jesus would choose someone like him. But Jesus speaks purpose and value into his heart, he invites him to push through the doubt and fear and take his first steps into discovering God’s plan for his life.

Rediscovering My Calling

It’s no coincidence that one of Peter’s last encounters with Jesus is back on the shore of the same lake with a repeat of the exact miracle that first convinced Peter that God loved him and was going to use him to change the world. This is a few years later and by now Peter has become a leader of the disciples. However, on this morning Peter’s sense of failure and inadequacy would have been fresh in his mind. Only a matter of days earlier he’d denied Jesus after promising to stand by him whatever the cost. Peter was living with the bitterness of failure, revisiting the same sense of inadequacy and unworthiness that he’d faced years earlier. That’s why Jesus repeats the miraculous catch of fish, reminding Peter that God still loved him and still had a purpose for him.

Accepting I Was Made For More

The Bible gives us such an honest picture of following Jesus. Like Peter we can feel like we are little more than spectators on what God is doing in this world. Like him we can believe that our mistakes and failures disqualify us from God’s purpose for our lives. But God has a way of gently reminding us that we have been made for more. He gets in our space and keeps stirring up our hearts to remind us that His plan for us is good. The invitation is to embrace our calling, to accept what God speaks over our lives, to believe that God’s purpose is being worked out through all the seasons of life; to fix our eyes on Jesus and to live by faith one day at a time.

Don’t give up on God’s plan for you. Don’t let go of that joy and hope which changed your life when you first discovered Jesus. Don’t content yourself with less. Don’t settle for the cheap trinkets and thrills this world offers. Your life matters. You matter. Because God chose you and He still has a purpose for you today.

Reflection Questions

1. How is God messing with my life right now? What is he doing to get my attention?
2. Am I convinced that the life God is calling me into is my best future?
3. What are the things that make me feel unworthy of God's calling? Have I ever talked to God about them?
4. How will truly believing I’m called by God change the way I do life?