Bigger and Better: Am I settling for less in life?

In college I played a game called “Bigger and Better”. The goal of the game was to drive around from business to business asking if they had an item they were willing to give up for free that was bigger or better than what we currently had. We all started the game off with nothing and had to return at the scheduled time with our final item. Some of the items brought back were amazing! (a big screen TV and a neon Pac Sun sign topped the list!)

Sometimes life can be like a game of Bigger and Better. It can be tempting to settle down into our routine and think “This is just the way life is so I need to suck it up, keep my head down, and plow forward.” But is that what God wants for us? Does He want us to walk drudgingly through life, settling for something less than our best?

Look at what CS Lewis, in his sermon entitled “The Weight of Glory” says about our desires and our focus.

“If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Too often that is me! I need to remind myself of Psalm 16:11 where it says “there is fullness of joy; at

[his] right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 63:1 says “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

I need to be reminded of where my heart and desires need to be focused because I am prone to wander and turn my gaze to the mud in front of me, so easily forgetting the glorious pleasures God has in store for me!

If your life is busy and full of craziness I want to encourage you to pick your eyes up and see the greater things in life and not settle for less. Let God use this time in your life to grow you, mold you, and shape you into the person of Christ. Do not be too easily pleased with where you are today. Don’t be half-hearted and weary because we know that in due time we will reap a harvest, if we do not give up! (Galatians 6:9)

Questions to Consider:

  1. What do CS Lewis’ words mean to you personally?
  2. Name the things that are pulling you away from pursuing Him. (life distractions)
  3. Are you settling for the lesser things around you or are you pursuing the greatest thing for your life?
  4. “Today I need to ______________ in order to begin pursuing the greater thing.”