Have You Settled For Less?

I woke up earlier this week with the conversations we had at bible study going through my mind. We talked about the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine (John 2:1-12) and had some really great dialogue around it. During the study, we touched on what we know good wine to be today compared to what the good wine was considered to be in Jesus’s day. Wine in the bible can refer to all stages from grape juice to fermented. Fermentation was necessry due to lack of preservation. During that era, the good wine was grape juice. That was the wine that was served first at a celebration. Once everyone had had their fill of the good wine, they would bring out the lesser quality, or the fermented wine, to serve the guests. In the passage, the servants take a cup of wine to the master of the feast to drink. He doesn’t know where the wine came from, but says they had saved the good wine for last. The wine Jesus had made was better than the best wine they had. 

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise."

Proverbs 20:1 ESV

This verse was one that we read in bible study too, and it sparked a really good conversation. “Wine is a mocker.” What does it mean to mock someone or something? Typically, it's something or someone pretending to be something or someone else. It’s usually a more animated version, and a lot of times it makes fun of the thing it’s imitating. People refer to alcohol as liquid courage. It can help you feel brave. It can help you to be more bold or to hide your anxiety or shyness in a social setting. You might be asking what wine could be mocking, exactly. If you think about it, any type of alcohol is called 'spirit.' I’m not going to get into this too much today because it’s not the point of the focus of what God wants me to share. However, it is something I need to touch on. Alcohol opens a door to allow for spiritual influence in your life. It’s mind-altering, and it impacts the choices you make. Most times, the choices that are made under the influence of alcohol are not good ones. Many times after alcohol has been consumed, people will feel awful and be left with a hangover. If that's the case, the spiritual influence would not be that of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never go against God's Word nor will it leave you feeling worse than you did. Your spirit of choice, whether it be wine, beer, or any other alcohol, is giving you a false sense of fulfillment or satisfaction in the moment. When you are filled with the Holy Spirit, through Him you are given courage, strength, boldness, bravery; all the things you may be lacking in your own power and are seeking help with in worldly solutions. And the best part is, it leaves you feeling empowered and encouraged, and it's a feeling that lasts. 

While I was meditating on all of this, God brought a really powerful revelation to my mind. The wine we know today is actually an inferior version of wine. Yet it’s the wine we reach for to celebrate. For some, it's a means to cope with grief, an attempt to fill a void, or a way to numb our reality. The wine we’ve come to accept is the wine that was used to signal the end of a celebration. This thought really got me thinking. If we, as a society, have come to seek out the inferior wine, and see it as great, what else have we settled for in everyday life that isn’t something intended for us?

We have become so accustomed to having everything at our fingertips and getting what we want when we want it. There's instant gratification everywhere we turn, fast food, next-day delivery, groceries delivered, all of the news, and everyone's business in our faces all of the time. We have become an entitled society full of arrogance. There are so many resources around us. It’s become really easy to do a lot of things on our own with minimal help from others. So much so that ‘the grind’ or ‘the hustle’ has been glorified. The more you can do on your own, the stronger you must be. The more you can control, the more together your life must be. That’s not at all how God intended us to live. His intent was for us to rely upon each other, and most of all Him, to work together. We try to control things that aren't ours to control. We try to do things with our own strength or power and attempt to make things progress how we think they should. The worst part about it all is, we believe that we have the control over everything and can do everything ourselves. That's why we deal with so much anxiety, depression, and other illnesses. 

This world we live in is obsessed with diagnosis and labels. We’ve come to a point in our culture that we allow those diagnoses to define us and become a part of our title and who we are. We welcome and embrace the diagnosis. I’m not saying there aren't medical things that people struggle with. I know mental health is a real issue, and I know there are genuine diseases in this world. The point I’m trying to make is that we have become comfortable with the diagnosis and have wrapped our arms around them. We feel okay to claim the disease or classification that the doctor gave us. We live in the misery of it and make accommodations for it to continue or get worse.

What if that’s not the life God created or intended for you? What if you’re only struggling with the thing you’ve been diagnosed with BECAUSE you are saying “I have …” rather than going to God to seek His help and guidance or rebuking it? The God we serve is a just God. I don’t believe he wants anyone living in torment. Sometimes, to be free, we have things we need to work on, change, or repent for. That's a topic for another time. I’m just saying, God doesn’t want you living with crippling anxiety or fear or anything else. Seeking professional medical help is never a bad idea. Doctors and physicians are there to help. God gave them a call to help and heal people. So, I also believe that seeking their advice can also be beneficial. Just don't discredit or avoid seeking the healing power of our Lord. There is nothing too big or too small for Him to handle and all of it matters to Him.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

God’s design is perfect. He has a rhyme and a reason for all things. We were never promised a life free of hardships. He actually told us we were going to have them. However, He also told us that He will never leave us and through Him we will have all the strength we need. I don’t believe God’s intention is for you to go through life claiming something negative over yourself. His plans are of welfare and hope. He wants good things for you. Sometimes we need some hardships in order to prepare our hearts for the blessings He has in store for us. As an example, you can't truly feel grateful for something unless you know what it's like to have nothing. 

The more you come into agreement with something, the more you will find things to make it true. If you tell yourself you can’t do anything right, as you go about your day, your brain will be wired to find the facts that prove you can’t do anything right. If you tell yourself you’re great at problem-solving, your brain will be wired to locate the successes throughout your day. It’s all about your focus and the things you speak, both verbally and internally. 

America as a whole is in desperate need of an adjustment. We are so far out of alignment with God. The things we accept as normal, celebrate, and hold at a high standard are things that are completely opposite of what they should be. Anymore, it's no big deal to get your palm read, use tarot cards, or even live by horoscopes. Each of those used to be capital crimes. It's considered normal to have anxiety. No one even bats an eye when it's spoken of and its considered odd to not be battling it every day. That's not a state of mind we are supposed to live in continuously. Society has normalized being half naked and exposed for people of all ages to see. You can't go anywhere without pictures of women in their undergarments on display. Where has modesty and innocence gone? Have we become so calloused that we shrug it off, turn a blind eye, or make excuses? 

The superior wine of today's culture would be considered the inferior wine of Jesus’s time. We are at a point so low that we see lowly things as grand and the grand things as out of reach, impossible, or as standards that are unrealistic. The wine that Jesus made was better than the best wine man made. They thought they had the best until they had THE BEST. I challenge you to apply that concept to aspects of your life. You think the life you have or the plans you have are amazing. The plans God has for you are far greater than you could even fathom. It's not too much to ask for a life free of depression and anxiety. It's not too much to ask for a healing miracle for a physical ailment. Our God is capable of handling all of it.

The wine we reach for today is the wine that used to signify the end of a celebration. I find that to be very fitting with prophecies that are being played out in front of our eyes. The end times are here. Our celebration or time on earth is coming to an end, and Jesus will be coming back for His people. Do you have a relationship with Him? What are you doing to bring others with you?

God created each one of us with a special calling and unique gifts to match. It is our job to find out what that is by seeking Him. Each of us work independently for the greater good. My call and my purpose are not the same as yours. You are great at your things, and I am great at my things. Whatever your gifts are, they are meant to glorify God and bring people to Him. We aren’t called to do the same things or impact lives the same. If that were the case, God would only need one person to do His work, and that's just silly. God has created a very specific plan for each one of us, and that includes putting specific people in our lives and on our path. It is our duty to walk in obedience and seize the moment to glorify Him when the opportunity arrives.

You're reading this which means you still have breath in your lungs and you have the perfect opportunity right here, right now to make changes and touch lives according to God’s plan. God’s intention for us is to live moment by moment. We can’t do anything about yesterday, and tomorrow is just a hope. We don’t know the day or the time that He is coming back. So it’s our responsibility to walk in obedience, do what He has called us to do, when He tells us to do it. He is expecting us to seize the moment and live every one like it's our last here on earth. Will you join me on this mission?

Your objective, if you choose to accept it:

DISCOVER YOUR CALL & WALK IN OBEDIENCE

• Spend time with God.

• Ask Him to help you adjust your life to be in alignment with Him. Be open to what He may reveal to you and make changes accordingly. If changes are hard, ask Him to help with those.

• If you don’t know what your call is, ask Him to reveal it to you or give you guidance. If you have received guidance from Him, ask Him to give you the courage to walk that path.

• Remember, we are all on the same team. We just have different roles. Ask Him if there are ways you can help support your brothers or sisters in Christ on their paths.

• Walk in obedience. Seek God's guidance every day so you can live in alignment with Him and spread His Word every chance you get.

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Dear Lord,

Thank you for your fatherly love and guidance. Open our hearts and our minds to be willing vessels for you. Give us the courage to move when you say move and speak when you say speak. You have given us special gifts and talents. Help us to use them the way you intended. I give you all the praise, honor, and glory for the work being done. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.