In light of my dad’s entry today, I immediately thought about this song:

“Caught in the half-light, I’m caught alone
Waking up to the sunrise and the radio
Feels like I’m tied-up, what’s holding me?
Just praying today will be the day I go free

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one’s around
I want to sing like nobody’s listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have plenty
I want to love like I’m not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made

Made in Your likeness, made with Your hands
Made to discover who You are and who I am
All I’ve forgotten help me to find
All that You’ve promised let it be in my life

I want to live like there’s no tomorrow
I want to dance like no one’s around
I want to sing like nobody’s listening
Before I lay my body down
I want to give like I have plenty
I want to love like I’m not afraid
I want to be the man I was meant to be
I want to be the way I was made”

My mom loves this Chris Tomlin song – this is how she lives her life. When I think about what God calls us to do as Christians, this is exactly it. He wants to take over our lives. We have each been made for a specific purpose. He has redeemed our lives for a very definite reason. He wants us to live with reckless abandon. Not like the world sees reckless abandon – the world’s motto is: “Have fun – do what you want, when you want.” God’s reckless abandon comes as we recklessly run into His love and give our lives over to Him. He wants us to love others with all our hearts, He wants us to give as though the resources will never run out, He wants us to fulfill the purpose that He has for us day by day. Not so that we can give Him a list of all the great things that we have done, but so that His heart can be seen to those who have never realized his voice. He wants us to hand Him our lives so that He can touch others with His love.

The way that God made us is not so that we can live for our own pleasure. If that’s the case, my mom would have given up on God a long time ago. God made us to be in relationship with Him – to get to know Him, to learn His voice – which is tender, not accusatory. He wants us to become skilled at knowing when He is speaking, to learn His heart, and to see that He has created us for eternity. It’s our decision to hear Him, our decision to accept Him, and our decision to obey Him. His goal is eternity – that’s where His eyes are fixed. Bad things happen, but thankfully we know that in ALL things God promises to work for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28), therefore we have hope in all things.

When we find the purpose He has created for us, we find true abundance. He wants to take over our lives so that we can have joy, so that we can see meaning in life, and so that we have significance. He wants us to be able to sing, love, give, and “be” with reckless abandon – to discover who we have been made to be – to have our hearts filled – and to find acceptance in a world that really stinks sometimes. He wants our entire lives so that He can give them back to us in plenty. He wants us to know His whispers, so we can hear His promises, and live out the plan He has for us. Only then do we live with reckless abandon and become who we were made to be – because only then are we, as the creation, tuned in to know the Creator’s exact purpose for us.