The Next Level

Sometimes it feels like everything we do is focused on the future. Many of us spend years in school trying to get good grades, hoping that one day we can get into college. We easily make the mistake of thinking our present lives aren’t meaningful, that we just have to get to the next level in order to be happy or satisfied. Especially for high school students, college sometimes feels like the ultimate goal, the prize waiting for us after we cross the finish line. Unfortunately, finishing high school is not the finish line. Many people decide not to go to college at all, and those who do are eventually faced with the next objective: getting a Job College, just like high school, feels like a stepping stone. Once again, students work hard and study so that, hopefully, they can get a job after graduation, or maybe get into graduate school. And this mindset doesn’t end after college. Many people spend their entire lives focused on moving up, getting ahead, making it to the next level. This might look like the dream career, the dream family, or the dream home but there’s a problem. If all we ever do is focus on the future, we miss so much. Because achieving our goals won’t really make us happy. The only way to find true contentment is in relationship with God through Jesus. That’s what we were created for—being loved by God and loving Him back. Even though we all rejected God, Jesus came to provide a way for us to be near Him again by dying for us and raising from the dead. A life devoted to loving Jesus and following where He leads will be a joyful life, because God is the source of joy! And even if we don’t achieve our original goals or get what we thought we wanted, we can still be content, because we’re held in love by the One who created us. Our future lies not in a good education, or a good job, or in anything else of the world. Rather, our future lies in our relationship with God. The only way to escape the next-level mentality is to embrace God’s love for us and live in joyful obedience to His Word. As we get to know Him more and more, He transforms our desires and shapes our dreams. When we follow Jesus, our lives become more meaningful than we ever could have imagined. • Christian Davis • What might your life look like if you prioritize embracing God’s love over the “next level”? But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 1 Timothy 6:11 (NLT)