“No one wants to live out of someone else’s bag.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2011-05-02) from his book, Cure for the Common Life (p. 14). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Have you ever gotten the wrong bag at the airport?  It can be a real problem can’t it?  I’m sure you would have a problem wearing my clothes but they work for me.

My great grandfather was a minister, my grandmother was a minister, my father was a minister and I am a minister.  Now my son is a lawyer, an awesome lawyer.  He has determined to not live out of someone else’s bag and he is right where God created him to be.  But what if he had given in to the potential pressure to be a minister like his great great grandfather, or great grandmother, or grandfather or father?  But the truth is, “no one wants to live out of someone else’s bag.” 

Max say, “God packed you on purpose for a purpose. Is this news to you? If so, you may be living out of the wrong bag.”

He goes on, “Most wage earners spend forty of their eighty waking weekday hours trudging through the streets of Dullsville. Such misery can’t help but sour families, populate bars, and pay the salaries of therapists. If 70 percent of us dread Mondays, dream of Fridays, and slug through the rest of the week, won’t our relationships suffer? Won’t our work suffer? Won’t our health suffer? One study states, ‘Problems at work are more strongly associated with health complaints than any other life stressor—more so than even financial problems or family problems.’”

He then says, “Such numbers qualify as an epidemic. An epidemic of commonness. Someone sucked the sparkle out of our days. A stale fog has settled over our society. Week after week of energy-sapping sameness. Walls painted gray with routine. Commuters dragging their dread to the office. Buildings packed with people working to live rather than living to work. Boredom. Mediocre performance.”

He then gives the cure, “God’s prescription begins with unpacking your bags. You exited the womb uniquely equipped. David states it this way: ‘My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be’ (Ps. 139:15–16 NIV). You cannot be anything you want to be. But you can be everything God wants you to be.”

So are you living out of someone else’s bag?