By F. D. Adkins
She sits at the kitchen table staring at a computer screen attempting to help her children with their homework. How can they change math? She keeps typing “new multiplication” into the search engine trying to find a short video. And why can’t kids have real textbooks anymore? She keeps glancing at the clock. She had tossed a frozen pizza in the oven ten minutes ago when she ran in the door. She feels bad for serving her family frozen pizza for dinner, but after a long day of waiting tables, trying to help the kids with schoolwork, and still laundry and bills to take care of, that is just all she has time for. She knows her husband deserves a better meal. He has had a long day at work too.
“Don’t you have any notes on this? Daddy will be home in a few minutes, and we still need to have dinner?”
“But Mom…we have to fix my project tonight. It is due tomorrow, and you did it wrong. There are only eight planets. You said there were nine.”
“There are nine planets. You can remember them by using the first letters in the sentence ‘My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas.’ See. You have Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.”
Her son shakes his head. “That is not how it goes. It is ‘My very educated mother just served us noodles.’ Pluto is not a planet.”
Letting out a sigh, she types ‘planets’ into the search bar. What? How can they just get rid of a planet? She gazes at the solar system model in the corner and drops her head.
“Mom…Mom…I smell something burning!”
“Great. Now we don’t even have frozen pizza for dinner.” She runs to the kitchen and pulls the blackened cheese from the oven. I just can’t seem to get it right. She feels herself breaking inside. How did we get so far in debt that we work ourselves to death? No matter how fast I move, I can’t seem to get it all done. I just can’t catch my breath. She squeezes her eyes shut trying to push down the tears. If we hadn’t gone into debt for all of this meaningless stuff, we wouldn’t have to work all of this overtime. But everyone else seems to keep up. Why am I such a failure? I can’t even heat a frozen pizza or help my kids multiply two numbers. I am running as fast as I can, and life is still passing me by. I wonder what happened to Pluto.
***
For the last several weeks I have been trying to help my son with college applications as he struggles with what career path that he might want to take. We have looked at what majors and academic programs that the different colleges offer. He is torn between two areas of study which makes a difference in what college that he would apply to. I want him to choose a career that he would enjoy, but at the same time, I want him to choose a growing field that would grant him financial security in the future. I do not want him to have to worry about getting a job or whether he is going to be able to support himself and his future family. I do not want him to be caught up in the rat race struggle like my fictional story above.
That being said, I have researched the college tuition to determine how much he would have to borrow. I have been trying to help him weigh the pros and cons of each such as how much he would have to borrow versus how much he would make in each of these fields. But then… I have to stop myself. Does any of these statistics matter? What matters is what God is calling him to do. So, instead of researching the internet, I decided I needed to research the Bible. Here are the results of my research:
God has a purpose for each of us. God knew the special path He had planned for my son before He created him.
- “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 KJV
- “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” Jeremiah 29:11 KJV
So, how do we figure out what God’s plan for us is? First, we have to love God and aspire to be like Jesus following His example. We have to change how we think. For example, all of my statistical research only matters in this world, but God’s Word says “be not conformed to this world”.
- “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 8:28-29 KJV
- “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Romans 12:2 KJV
So, if we change our thinking from the ways of the world to God’s way, and we completely trust God praying and studying His Word, He will guide us.
- “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6 KJV
But…what about my worry for my son’s financial security? What is financial security? Okay, here is where the main character has the grand epiphany. As I type this question, the words from the verse above boom in my mind answering my own question. “Be not conformed to this world.” Where do most of our debts come from…our needs? Or wants? Do we really need the huge car payment? Do we have to have a cell phone? Television, internet…are those necessities?
- “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:31-33 KJV
If we put God first, He will provide for our needs. Of course, this does not mean that we can just sit on the couch doing nothing. The Bible instructs us to work.
- “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24 KJV
- “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV
God created Adam and gave him a job to do.
- “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 2:15 KJV
God warns about laziness.
- “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.” Proverbs 19:15 KJV
- “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10 KJV
- “But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” 1 Timothy 5:8 KJV
Take note that even though God gave the manna to the children of Israel, they still had to go out and pick it up. The manna did not fall directly into their mouth. They also could not be greedy and hoard it up.
- “This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.” Exodus 16:16-18 KJV
So, to sum up my Bible study:
- God created man to work.
- God created each of us with a purpose.
- If we trust God, pray, study God’s Word, and follow the example of Jesus, God will lead us.
- If we are doing the work God calls us to do, He will provide our needs.
- Important: “Be not conformed to this world.” Romans 12:2 KJV.
- Much of our financial problems come from being conformed to this world. If the devil keeps us conformed to this world, he keeps us from accomplishing God’s purpose for our lives.
Life is full of choices. Each choice can either keep us on the path toward God’s plan for us, or it can veer us off on a rocky road. To find our real purpose in life, to find what we were created to do, we must seek God in every decision. Now, I leave you with a quote from C. S. Lewis.
“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to the one state of the other.” C. S. Lewis
Sources:
Lewis, C. S. “C.S. Lewis > Quotes > Quotable Quote.” Goodreads, www.goodreads.com/quotes/111876-every-time-you-make-a-choice-you-are-turning-the. Accessed 1 Sept 2021
