What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

This is a question everyone faces early in life; who do you want to be when you grow up? Some do not believe they have a choice and so live their lives according to what someone else wants them to be. Sad. Everyone has a choice regardless of upbringing or environment. The choices are presented to you by God, and you get to choose one; you must choose one.

         If you grew up watching television in the early 1950s you may have chosen to be a cowboy like Roy Rogers, or a cowgirl like Dale Evans, or a doctor like Ben Casey, or a detective like Dick Tracy, or a farmer like Paul Martin (wife Ruth, son Timmy, dog Lassie). The television presented options (visions) for many children as they pictured themselves becoming like their heroes on TV. And as a child, you did not think in terms of “being,” but rather “doing” the activities you saw these individuals doing on TV. You would “play” that person you admired, with the same outfit, the same gestures, the same episodes you saw on TV. When Halloween came around, it was a no-brainer which costume you would have. The television gave you a vision.

         Jesus stepped into His world when He was born in Bethlehem to give us a vision of what we could to be when we grow up. His life revealed the life God created us to have; life with Him. Jesus said of His life, “…I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10. The word “abundantly” is the Greek word perisos, which means to have something considerable more than the norm, or even expected. In other words, the life that Jesus offers to you, which is His life, is so much more than you can possibly know or do or enjoy. It is unusual in the world, but normal to God. And He presents the life of His Son to you and for you to have.

         But offered does not automatically mean accepted. There have been many children that were offered the best life at home but never accepted it. There have been others that were given the worst at home but chose something better. When something is offered, a choice must still be made and can be. The life that Jesus offers, His life, is a vision of what you can be when you grow up. His actions are seen in the gospel accounts of His life, as well as the prophecies of His coming in the Old Testament. His actions are given meaning and interpreted in the New Testament letters. As the Father reveals the life of His Son Jesus to you, you are given a new option for life. The light of God’s word reveals the life Christ gave for you to receive and live for Him; life the way God created it to be lived; in Him, with Him, through Him, as Him, before Him and the watching world.

         Today, open God’s word and see Christ Jesus, the Lord. Every episode is about Him in some way. His life is the life God desires for you to have because His life is the only one overflowing with everything that is good, with joy unspeakable and full of glory.