Resting in God's Mission and Plan for Your Life

By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of: Ana Tavares

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” ~Ephesians‬ ‭2:10‬

This is a verse from one of my favorite books of the Bible that really jumped off the page at me in a new way several months back. I had read this verse countless times over the years, but never before had it impacted me so deeply as it did that particular morning.

The thought that popped into my head was regarding the implications of this verse in light of our current culture of competition, hustling, and striving to make our dreams come to fruition right away.

This kind of behavior, that can be all too common, often comes from a place of fear, rather than from a place of trusting God. I heard someone say something on a podcast one day that I completely disagreed with and that I think is lending itself to this phenomenon of fearful striving.

The podcast guest said that, as a writer, she believes that there are all these book ideas out floating somewhere in the universe and that if we don’t quickly snatch one of the ideas up and begin working on it, then someone else will.

Sorry, but I cry foul on that fear-based mentality. It is true that if one person refuses to do what God wants to have done, He will raise up another person. But that’s different.

I believe that what Ephesians 2:10 is saying is that if you are dedicated to waking by the Spirit, are remaining in step with God, and dedicated to doing whatever He calls you to do when He calls you to do it, whether that is write a book, lead a ministry, serve at a homeless shelter, acquire a certain dream job, or something else entirely, God will undoubtedly bring it to pass. You don’t have to hustle, strive, pay for followers, spend hours on social media to build a platform, or cheat your way to the “top”.

Instead, you can believe that God is God and that the good works He prepared long before you were born, the good works He wants *you* to do, will come to pass in His own perfect timing - no matter what good works someone else is doing!

We can rest in that truth today, friend.