Most of us are spending too much time trying to get our life back.

I have moments as a mom of a newly three-year-old where I feel my heart being tugged backwards. Remembering what it was like to be able to use the bathroom in privacy, catch up with friends without constant interruption, thrive after a full night of sleep, or run errands without worrying about nap time.

I feel the draw towards thinking about me again. And taking my eyes off the ones and the ways God has called me to serve.

Please hear me . . . I am NOT talking about living without self care.

We all need to take good care of ourselves. Plan for creative outlets, eat healthy while sitting down, unplug, rest, and do fun things with those we love.

I realize many of you are not in the same stage of life I am. But maybe you feel drawn towards the effort of getting:

• your body back.
• your money back.
• your youth back.
• your career back.
• your good ole’ days back.

Whether you’re a college student, single, newly married, a single mom, trying to figure out teenagers, recently divorced, an empty nester, starting a new job, closing up shop, raising your grandchildren, or moving to the other side of the world . . . the temptation is to try to get your old life back.

Our world tells us to get our lives back in order after ________ (you fill in the blank). The only problem with that order is that we reign as line leader. That spot was never meant for us to claim.

In each new stage of life, whether we prayed earnestly for God to bring the answer or it was sprung on us not by our own choosing, the newness wears off and we’re left with the daily upkeep of a new life.

There’s something so tempting about shifting the focus back to ourselves and not on the situation we are currently in or the people God has placed in our path to serve.

Life feels like the trenches and not something we want to continue living in.

But just maybe these moments are the pinnacles of the Kingdom — the glory of God living in the daily drudgery for all to see — and we don’t even realize it.

We become uncomfortable and tired. We start to remember how good our former life used to be.

Then there’s a moment where we have a choice. Do we choose to serve Jesus exactly where He has us this day? Or do we distance ourselves with our schedule and shift our focus from Him to ourselves?

This moment of choice and those distractions will look different for each us. Temptation is usually adapted to each of our shortcomings.

“If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.”
{2 Corinthians 5:13-15}

I realize these verses that Paul writes to the Corinthians are focused on our sinful lives before Jesus and how we are to live after we have new life in Jesus. Paul is focused on the transformation or how we live, the ambassador role we now play in the world and how not only our lives but those watching us will be transformed by the salvation we have received.

But I think these verses can also apply in an even deeper meaning to us Jesus followers who are starting to look back to what we think are “better” days, when God has called us to something new, harder, uncomfortable, with Him.

Not getting your life back after ___________ (you fill in the blank), sounds crazy to the world and some in the church. But it is to bring glory to God. It is also for our benefit. Jesus’s abundant love controls us, not our own natural desires and impatient souls. We know we died with Jesus, so our old self — the one that wants to be the line leader in our families, our friendships, and our workplaces — died, too.

We have new life in Jesus and can live like we do every single day, no longer living for ourselves. No longer longing for our old lives, but instead living wholeheartedly for Jesus — today.

Help us, Jesus, to continue to live in the love and life You have called us to today. Help us not long for anything besides what and how You have called us to serve You. Show us how not to compare or look forward to when this stage of life is over. Protect us from temptation and reveal to us how we are being distracted. Teach us to live our life in You in each moment. To God be the glory for leading our days.

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