Devotions Inspired By Beyond BlessedSample

GOD-SIZED INVITATIONS
by Allan Kelsey 

When I was growing up, I wanted a motorcycle in the worst possible way. I dreamt about it, I had posters on my wall, and I bought motorcycle magazines. I bargained with God to get one, I reasoned and pleaded with my parents, but in the end, no motorcycle for me. 

At the same time in my life, I was starting to compete more seriously in swimming meets and work harder in my daily training. My race times got faster and soon I began to realize this talent might lead to bigger opportunities. Even at 12 years old, I recognized that I was leveraging a God-given ability and felt somehow invited to steward the talent and follow the invitations God provided through it. At the conclusion of my South African high school career, I received a scholarship to the United States to fully explore the extent of the talent I had been given.     

It was about this time that I began to more deeply understand the power and difference of a me-sized dream and a God-sized invitation. My motorcycle dream was object-focused and self-serving, but God’s invitation was to be the strongest version of myself, for His sake and His destiny over me. What I learned is that chasing a self-serving dream is not necessarily wrong, but it is limited in its scope. However, when God invites you to collaborate with Him in the strongest contribution your life could make on earth, then you are being invited to destiny! Your destiny. 

In this pursuit, lessons of perseverance, focus, stamina, and determination will surface. They will test you beyond what you think you can endure, so you can learn that there truly is more in you than you thought. These proofs are not for God to know if you’ve got it, they are for you to see that you’ve got it. 

This is why God’s invitations (the aspirations He places on our lives) are worthy of our highest efforts, rather than the self-centered dreams about motorcycles. Because in these efforts, you will make your highest contribution to the world and along the way discover the strongest version of yourself. 

In today’s Scripture, God picks a fight with Jacob and wrestles with him. When Jacob realizes he is wrestling with his destiny, he presses in to get a me-sized dream—a blessing from the Man of God. God tests him further by touching Jacob’s hip and still Jacob would not let Him go. As you continue reading, Jacob pleads and bargains with God to give him the thing he dreams of—a blessing, a sort of self-serving thing. In reply, God invites Jacob to a new destiny and confirms it by changing his identity. God did not need to wrestle with Jacob to learn something about him. Instead, God needed to wrestle with Jacob because Jacob needed to learn something about how to pursue God-sized invitations! 

As you look at your life, are you pursuing me-sized dreams or God-sized invitations? I want to encourage you to respond to God’s invitations in your life. He’s given each of us a destiny and purpose, and it’s up to us to use the tools, talents, and gifts He’s given us to achieve them for His glory and kingdom.

PRAYER
God, thank You for the purpose and destiny that You have given me. Show me the invitations You’ve given me and help me to steward my time and efforts to respond to Your purpose for my life. I don’t want to waste my time on my own dreams, but I want to pursue the dreams You have for me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

MEMORY VERSE   
“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” MATTHEW 6:33 (NLT)