What if I told you that you were “Made for More”. More of what? We are likely to intuitively have a nagging feeling that there has to be more to life than what we are experiencing. In fact, we have coined the phrase of “mid-life crisis” to describe what some experience when they approach their 40’s or 50’s and begin to wonder if they wouldn’t be happier if they hit the restart button.
In a Huffington Post article about how to recognize mid-life crisis, Anna Gregerson stated that it starts, “When you start to have more questions than answers; especially hard ones: ‘is this all there is?’... ‘why am I doing this?’... ‘what about what I need?’... ‘who am I anymore?’... ‘what is the real point of me?’... ‘why put my life off any longer?’”
It isn’t just the stereotypical 50-something man or woman who is asking these questions. To some degree, from the high-school or college graduate, to the stay at home mom, to someone facing retirement, there can many events along the road of life that cause us to wonder if there isn’t something more.
This innate longing for something more in this life comes from God to draw us to himself. Blaise Pascal, the 17th century French mathematician and philosopher, put it like this: "There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ." If we try to stuff anything but God into that God-shaped hole in our lives, we'll end up dissatisfied, restless, and discontent. But what do we find when we fill that God-shaped hole with Christ? Contentment.
Sounds great, but does it really work? Listen to what the apostle Paul says: "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through [Christ] who gives me strength" (Philippians 4:12). Paul writes from a Roman prison telling us that we can share in the contentment that he has based in Christ not circumstances.
This “Made for More” longing can only be satisfied when we look to God, the author and creator of all life. What God has done and is doing is seen in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” If we want to discover what it is that we are made for, if we are longing to find contentment in this life, we only need to look to our author and creator to find our answer.
But what is the something more that we are promised? Clarity in not only who we are but also where we are going. It starts by recognizing that we are a masterpiece created by God to accomplish his purposes. Unfortunately, too often we see ourselves as something far less. If you see yourself as something less than a masterpiece, consider this, “How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and he is certainly greater than you, the clay! Should the created thing say of the one who made it, “He didn’t make me”? Does a jar ever say, “The potter who made me is stupid”? (Isaiah 29:16)
Paul uses the same image to challenge us to think more clearly about ourselves, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?” (Romans 9:20-21) God has declared you to be His masterpiece; our charge is to discover what the masterpiece mission is that he has prepared for us.
Is this more than you can imagine? Then be encouraged by Paul’s words, “May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:19-20) May you look to Christ to find your identity today.